Zigmat

Zigmat is a Spanish flavored electronic rock band that rose up out of Brooklyn. 


Their latest song is: Beautiful Takes The World. Is a song about shallow waters or about being caught up with materialistic needs. Which I'm sure that no-one can relate to. 


Although the parents of Zigmat’s lead singer and instrumentalist, Monica Lionheart wanted what everyone's parents want for their children, reasonable trousers that are usually accompanied by financial security, Monica decided to say no to beige and yes to the voice from within.

After graduating from Boston’s Berklee School of Music, Monica moved to Brooklyn where she met fellow alumni, (Whom she hadn’t met until that night.) Stephen Yonkin, a bassist who was also trying to put together a band during that period. 

For that next year Monica and Stephen combined ideas, wrote music, and made plans/goals. The result of that year proved that hard work rewards since Zigmat released their first album, Sounds of Machine in 2008, as well as being singled out by a Brazilian music producer after playing a set at an East Village bar, Nublu. “It was like from a movie,” said Monica Lionheart about that evening.

That set in the East Village lead to a school of opportunities like a contract with Brazilian record label Ultra Records, another contract with Spanish record label Actua, and a Grendene shoe commercial starring Gisele Bundchen. Along with those checks on the – I did it – list are a slew of television and radio appearances and song pickups. 

Since Zigmat became a band they went through a few members, but the two pillars that hold them together, Stephen, who produces and plays bass, and Monica who is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer have remained. When other hands and minds are needed individual musicians are invited on. 

When Monica Lionheart was asked if and how Zigmat has evolved since 2006 her response was, “We’re older now, we’re a little more sophisticated with the technical stuff and we’re aware of what matters more.” Monica also contributed her personal experience since 2006, “When we started I was the in your face girl, the girl who can’t be stopped. I still have a little debris from that chip on my shoulder, but these days I feel smoother and relaxed.”

Indeed Zigmat is currently re-visiting Brooklyn. Those who missed them at the Celebrate Brooklyn show on July 8^th can hear them at Nublu on Oct 4th or Oct. 18th. For further concert dates and locations visit their website.

Also, Monica has started a solo project, for more information on that go say hey to MonicaLionheart.

Joel Marbach

Two weeks ago I decided to get back into interviews. So, I asked Joel, a friend of a friend who became a friend, if he was up for it. He said or wrote back, "Why not it could be funny!" 

Joel (on right) is a French man who lives in Rome. His home town is Guemar, Alsace. He speaks French, Italian, and English. If he were to purchase a T-shirt tomorrow it would be green.

How do you feel about the lifestyle in Rome? "I previously lived in Ireland then Scotland.. I have to say it’s completely different from the Scottish and Irish lifestyle. It’s probably closer to the French lifestyle, but from the South because it’s a bit mediterranean there.  So it’s ah, it’s more relaxed during the weekend, or the evening. In fact it’s a bit chaotic during the day and what they call Dolce Vita in the evening, or on the weekend. Also, it’s a lifestyle that’s mainly based on food I have to say. Cause it’s the main topic of discussion of people like either in the street, or at work, or with friends or so."

Do you like living here? "Yeah, I enjoy it a lot. I really like the city of Rome, so to walk, it’s really nice. It’s really good when you travel a bit in Europe, to see all the best things that a country has to offer. And Rome definitely has some really nice advantages such as the weather. It’s pretty......   I think the  downside or inconvienent bit of living here is the nightlife. It’s not as active as Dublin or in France for instance. (Yeah?) For sure. it’s not really a place where you can just walk and say look for a club. Because you probably will not find one, unless you’re in the good area for clubs. The city is so big, and there’s so many places that are more just like they call it in Italian, an area to sleep, like a dorm area. There’s just like people living there. There’s absolutely nothing to go out to, and if so it's just maybe a restaurant, or maybe to a little bar. That’s a bit difficult for me I have to say, but I’m getting over it."

Other than nightlife what is there to do here? "Well I’d say first of all do what the tourists do.. To see the monuments, to learn about the history. And I think for art, there’s a lot going around..... Then if you like sports there’s a good passion for football here and so. I like personally to go to the stadium every now and then. Also Rome is in a very good situation in Italy, to go and visit other cities. If it’s in the North like Florence, or maybe ah Bologna, Parma. Or in the South you’ve got Naples two hours away, Calabria three hours away. And you can be at the beach in half an hour, so in the summer there’s always something to do."

As a French man, how do you feel about the  Italian cuisine? "About the food? I think it’s really good, but I could say there’s not enough diversity because the Italians like so much their food. There seems to be little room for foreign restaurants. In Dublin it’s the opposite cuase the Irish food is not really good, or there’s not much variety in it. They’ve got a lot of Indian restaurants, Chinese, Asian, it's like France. You can literally find everything there. I guess  maybe not so much so as New York, but both are international... I think it’s good to have the choice...... The Italian food is mainly about the pizza and pasta. They also have some meat, some cheeses that are really good but it’s true that sometimes you would like something different."

Do you have a favorite restaurant? "Yeah, it’s the one close from home called ah Al Grottino. Where they do really good pizzas. It’s a really nice restaurant as we talked before there are some areas that are residential. So there’s not that many restaurants around, or clubs, or pubs, but they do really really good Roman style pizza for a really good price, like around 6 euro. The service is really good and it’s usually fairly busy. And you don’t often see tourists there cause it’s not close to the hotels or any monuments, which is also a good sign."

What did you study in college? " Ah, I studied business, marketing, and management. I made a mix of everything. It didn’t really point in a specific direction. I started to study in France in my region, and then I moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to finish. And then after that I did a course, it was about internet technology for e-commerce. They taught me a bit about the way business is going on online, about creating a website, about dealing ah with communication within the company."

Is that what your work is related to now?  "Yeah, it’s what lead me more or less to this job. Although I had to take another job before because I needed something to start with. I worked for Motorola, for the costumer service of motorola. It was okay, but after awhile you get a bit tired of dealing with people’s problems. And so I looked for jobs in Dublin. And I just happened to find this Italian company who was doing web media."

Can you explain that more? "We look at what people look for on the internet, and we produce content to satisfy these needs of information. So it’s really about many topics, about products, or services you could think about getting online. We ask people to write articles about the subjects, then our collegues in marketing do some campaigns, attract some traffic on the website, and that makes some benefits." 

Do you enjoy the work? "Yeah, I think it’s quite interesting. Cause you get to learn about a lot of different topics which I think people in their lives don’t necessarily do cause there’s always like two or three different things you like. Like, maybe you like sport or food, maybe you like travel, but say you wouldn’t necessarily read about like everything that's possible. In my job that’s what I get to do, obviously I’m more interested in some things more than others. But by reading about other things I was less interested in I got to learn things that fed my curiosity."

Also contributed: "Obviously there are things that you don’t like in the job. But it’s just like everything else in life. It depends on how you see it. If you focus on the positive sides of your job, or your life, or of your friends,  of people, you will see the beautiful things in it. If you look at the pay that could be higher, or if you look at your boss that you wish would be better in communicating, or more intelligent, or more beautiful, or whatever, you’re focusing on the negative. And by having this negativity you’re not going to enjoy anything. A positive outlook, it's very important about the job, but it’s very important for things in general."

Any other favorite cities? "Maybe the one where I lived for five years, Edinburgh. I went there just for a year abroad to improve my English and just to live something different. Then it was such a good experience that it just made me want to stay more. It’s not that I decided, it’s just that every year I said, okay I’ll stay another year. After my studies were finished, I studied something else, then there was nothing else to study, so I started to work... 

Any personal projects? "I have to say I’m doing a lot more reading. The funny thing is that I didn’t read a lot in the past because I always thought reading was a bit boring. I’d rather watch a film, or be with people, or like talk, or maybe go to the pub, or watch a football game. I guess for some people like me, the interest comes a bit with getting older or so. It’s like you start realizing that reading is not just something you do at school. For me that’s what it was, something you do at school. They force you to read some books that aren’t very interesting."

What are you reading now? "In fact it’s a book written by an American writer, Donald Walsh, who says or pretends he had conversations with God. And whether that’s true or not, at the end of the day that isn't the point. What’s interesting is the content....The book talks about the problems in the world in the way that it’s our fault if today we have people who die of poverty, and who have no food. Or we have people who are so rich that they don’t even know what to do with their money.....  It’s a bit hard for me to think that the world we have today could change and suddenly become like a paradise. You know, if we would like to do it, if the conscience of like everybody in the world would want to do something better it could happen."

I heard that the African Italian soccer players are booed, is that true? "Yeah just because of their color.. And that’s particularly sad, especially, well they wouldn’t boo them if they played for their team. The problem is the opposite team. The same who applaud a black player for scoring a goal, will boo another for being black but just for playing for another team so that’s how stupid it gets. It’s just like you get good players for your team you’re obviously really happy, and suddenly you forget about the color, if you’re someone who takes care about these things. It’s not that everyone does it, a few clubs, a few cities, but it happens."

Contribution:  "And the Eastern Europeans, the Albanians, the Romanians, the Yugoslavians, they call them gypsies normally, or like Zingari. (Zingari?) This is like the gypsy, like the people who live in caravans and camp. There’s been problems with them in Italy, a bit in France also. Obviously it’s not always the best people who come from these countries to Italy and they made themselves a really bad name. Especially the Romanian people who are often found drunk, found driving drunk, who sometimes  rape women, but that was more like two or three years ago. And so again for a lot of people who don’t think further, they classify all of the Romanians in this category. They think all Romanians are rapists, they’re all alcoholics, they are all like gypsies, they steal, they bring bad things to our country. It’s like to describe a society about a guy that you read about in the newspaper or something like that."

As we close, are you happy? "That's a good question. I think in my life there are a lot of good reasons to be happy. And obviously then when you get to the routine there are maybe things that you like or dislike. But like I said before, I think the happiness about life in general is about choosing to be happy and so. I think the best things also come to the ones who choose to be happy.....  There are people who are really unhappy. There are people who have a good job, but are not happy. There are people who have a beautiful girlfriend who are not happy, so I think at the end of the day it’s something you choose. It’s almost a lifestyle.


Thanks Joel.

Mitch Lj

Mitch Lj is Michel Saurin
 Mitch is from France

He is a French DJ, and a successful one at that
In New York, Mitch can be found at Kiss and Fly or at Gansevoort's  Provocateur
Mitch speaks French, English, Portuguese, and a little Spanish right?   

What is your definition of being a DJ? "When I work I don't feel like I'm working. It's like playing music for me. I'm on my computer creating something. For me it's like I'm sharing my energy."

What type of music do you play? "House music."

What does that mean? "Okay, House started from putting a beat on the disco, by putting percussion on the actual beat....And there's so many different kinds of house music.You can go from deep house,  very instrumental, very jazzy, that's where I started. I don't know if I told you my background?"

Let's hear it: "I come from jazz. I was drumming, I was playing piano. I played four years of piano, and meanwhile I started the saxophone for two years,  and I did the jazz drumming for 15 years...Then, completely randomly I've been attracted, I mean not really attracted, but I was needing some money when I finished my studies in France. (I was 23 when I finished business school. That's not in my field, but anyway I graduated. I did it.) Then I just focused on what I really like to do. Music....... But I didn't have any plans and the South of France there's like a few big clubs and that's it. And to live really well doing jazz and the stuff I was doing, it was not easy. So just to get some money I was drumming in clubs, like getting my percussions, my drums, and going in this club and playing with DJs, like special shows and stuff like that. I liked that. I really liked what I was doing and that's where I got fully into house music."

"The DJ that was playing there in this big club in the South of France, (Ponor is the name of the town, where there's really good wine also.) was playing this type of melodic stuff, really instrumental, and really like jazzy house music. And I ask him, ok explain me how to mix, and let me begin the party for you...That's how I got the virus. And then I started buying lots of music and lots of vinyls, because it was in vinyls at the time."

Did you do anything else during that beginning period other than the drums? "I was also, what's the name in English? A kid rescuer? A life guard on the beach. (Wha? That's shamazing!) Actually, it was funny because I was a life guard on the beach by day and by night I was playing percussion in the club just right next to the beach. It was a 100 meters away. I was going in and out, in and out. I was sleeping like three hours those nights."

"Then after that I moved to Switzerland to make a season there. I didn't know what to do after I graduated and stuff so I went there." Is there good musical energy there? "Also, but you get more money there. And I had some opportunity to work there, so I went. I did a season there, and then I went back for a year and I worked in a ski station.You have to start some where. It was good cuz I was snowboarding. So, I was snowboarding by day and playing the club by night. I was always mixing the two pleasures."

"Then after that I came back to the South of France for the summer, and I started again to mix, but I was in San Copain. San Copain is really like the platform where there's all these clients. And you can make these contacts for business to pump up, especially as a DJ. So I stayed for six years, six seasons, every summer. Then I was traveling and playing here and there and having my own contacts and parties I started to travel and be really demanding because my music was not bad. Then after awhile I worked almost everywhere in like the biggest clubs in Europe, like ah North South, like Spain, Russia everywhere, London everywhere. And I also have this market in South America, in Brazil. Brazil that I love. My name is well known there, bigger than here in the USA actually." 

Where in Brazil? "Everywhere in Brazil. I started in Sao Paulo. Then I went to more famous places, like very fancy on the summer, like in Florianopolis, and Curichiba. Rio I don't like that much cuz the night life isn't really that great there. I mean the city is amazing, it's beautiful, but energy wise, like music wise, no, no, not the best, for house. I'm saying for house, I love house."

Do you ever get nervous on stage? "Not at all." Then...... "I'm used to it now. The first time you get there, you're a little bit nervous. It's like you have no mistakes, no mistakes. You can't fail, you cannot fail, no way, no way. But ah, that's what I do, that's what I love to do."

What made you come to the US? "I was going back and forth,  back and forth. Then I said, you know what? You have this field, this market, you can open also in America. And there, if you work there, you're gonna work everywhere because America is a (He did the universal gesture for strong, puffing up the arms.) well country and so.  So I decided to move everything, I just took my life and came here just with nothing. I got a visa, I got myself. I arrange everything. It was a mess. Yeah, it was really hard to get that. But I had a lot of press in Europe, so I could have it. And that's it so I came here and I started working for Kiss and Fly as a specialist for one year."

How did you get Kiss and Fly? "They contacted me. I never really contacted anyone. So no agents pulling for your cause? "Yeah also, I have three different agents.  One in the United States now that I signed with someone, William Morris. For South America I have another agency, the biggest also. And I'm working with one exclusive agent who is for Europe. It's organization. You have to...."

Onto France...Where in France are you from? "I come from a small small village from the South of France. I give you the name but you won't even know that." No tell me, I wanna know. "Okay I come form Sollies-Pont. And you know what we are known from there?" What? "For the cherries and the figs. Fig trees, we have a lot a lot, and we export a lot through all the world. That's what we do. But it's beautiful, you know it's like a little, very small town, beautiful. We also have a lot of vines around, a lot of wine around. And it's like chill."

Do you miss it? "I miss the vibe there, but I go like every summer one month to see my mom. She's living there." 

Okay so how do you feel about New York? "New York is the American dream. When you want something and you go for it here...You get one chance and you don't miss your chance you can go really high. And if you have some talent that's gonna really push you really high. Also you can get really low. So don't miss your chance. That's what I say about New York."

Do you like New York? "I love New York. The city itself? Yeah, it's all about the energy. It's all about the movement. And it's all about strategy, here." Whatcha mean? "Well, in my world, in what I'm involved in here, there's a lot of competition. But when you do everything with love and passion, if you really want it and you're good at what you do you're going to do well. And anyway when you have a strategy, when I say that is like you can be good, you can be the best DJ, or the most beautiful and talented artists in the world. If you don't have exposure, or when people don't know you,  don't see you, you're gonna disappear. So what you do is strategize. That's what I do. That's why I have the best agents. That's why I waited to have this one also. And that's it."

How did you learn this?  "I just feel it. I donno, I just feel where to go and I smell where it smells good for me...I don't know how to say that. You know when you don't feel good in a place or you don't feel good with someone and stuff?"

Any other projects? "In new York when I'm not working, spinning, I'm in the studio everyday every night. I remix, I produce originals, I work with different labels."

So with all this wonderful...Are ya happy? "Ah I'm very happy. I cannot be more independent, because I do everything by myself. I'm very proud of it. Ah, but there is this thing that. Okay, I think that every artist that's being successful and stuff like that, you have no life, in a way that you're always moving. That means that you're seeing people that you know some times from here and there, and here and there, but you don't have a certain circle of friends. I got a few close friends that I know from Europe, I also got close friends back home. But, in everyday, you're gonna interact with some people that you know from last time you came here and there. So I have good friends all over the world,  but that's not the point. There's not really someone that you could...Someone very close? No."

Are you lying about any of this? "No."

If you've heard: 'Love Will Find A Way,' 'Summer Rain, 'Brooklyn Symphony,' 'Love Shine,' 'The Barber,' 'One People,' 'Set You Free,' or 'Reunion,' you have heard Mitch.

Carlo Sampietro

While examining the East Village I walked past a gallery that had a number of  plastic newspaper boxes in the front window display. (Except there weren't any newspapers to be seen.) I continued walking and thought, that's weird, then stopped, and went back where I met Carlo, who explained that he had converted the newspaper boxes into things that could be of better use to us, like a dishwasher, a wine cooler, an aquarium, and a miniature green house. Carlo also went about creating in a right brained manner when he fashioned chairs out of Nyc Dots and tables out of police barricades and glass. Do I want to know how he was able to secure these materials? Nope.

Carlo is Carlo Sampietro

Carlo is an Italian from Lake Como
Who periodically resides in the East Village (Nyc)
In 2002 he won the green card lottery -- Which is big luck when you aren't a citizen

Carlo doesn't read or write in any language very well

But the man has taught himself how to speak English, Portuguese, and Spanish by listening to it on the streets

Shall we?

How were you able to make these appliances? Are you also a electrician? "Ah no, you know, you grow up in a village that is like eight hundred people. Where I grew up, this is a huge jump, but you know the people in Cuba? It's the same thing when you grow up in a mountain, or Lake Como, or in a village, everyone has some manual skills.

I'll give you some example...So the father of a friend of mine was an electrician, so I spend like a summer with him. We used to play with engines and things like that...Every summer I was doing something else. Another summer a friend of mine was a carpenter, so I spent a summer building up a house, and throwing down roof, and things like that. So, little by little, no?"

Can you tell me what it was like growing up in Lake Como? "Ah okay so when I was young the third year of the school I didn't do. I was in the hospital for one year and a half." Why? "I get ah leukemia." What? "Leukemia..." Yeah, I know what it is. (Emotions) "So when I get out of that one I don't go out too much without other people because it was still a little bit dangerous. So I spent time with the fathers of friends of mine. The electrician one, another one with the computer, things like that.

Contributed: For the first two years of secondary school I went to a school two miles north from Lake Como, but I punched a priest in the face, I send him to the hospital, so I need to change schools." Okay? "So they send me to Verona. But even there they arrest me one night, and I have to change schools again." Wait, for what? "They arrest me because I drove like ah a bike that was stolen. No, I didn't steal it, it was stolen in 1972, I wasn't even born. But ah they discovered that I was under 18, so they take me to the school with the police car. They were not so happy at the college. (From left to right, the dishwasher, the wine cooler, and green house.)

Then I finished up the last two years in Milan. Then August I started to do assistant work in advertising. August you normally don't work in Italy, but then and there I start. I worked 10 years in Italy, more or less. Every December and January I took off to South America." What were you doing there? "Traveling, I would take the bus and do ten thousand kilometers and see everything that I could."

Of all these places, which is your favorite or favorites? "The three places that I'm always going back are Cuba, ah Kenya, and Brazil...To live?...In Brazil." Really, why? "If you go in a place like this in Brazil (Esperanto) there will probably be live music like this, there is my grandfather that is ninety years old and my kid that is one month old. These family things don't happen so much in other places."

When did you move to New York? "I won the green card in 2003 and moved to Nyc in 2004."

How was your Nyc beginning? "I had a little bit of savings for a couple of things. If things were gonna be bad, I'm gonna end up washing dishes, or something like that.  In the beginning was very good. I did freelance for advertising, they paid me very well.  And then for a period of nine months I didn't work, everything went down. And I took this loft where I am right now in the East Village, very expensive, and I need to go to Puetro Rico like five days to make the rent. So with my holiday to Puerto Rico I paid the rent." I have no idea what you just said. "I need to pay the rent." Okay. "So to pay the rent I was renting my place for five days to a tourist. You know people that come and stay instead of a hotel they stay in an apartment? So I pay the rent. And they pay me to stay in Puerto Rico for a week, and I still have some money left." (A close up of the aquarium.)

Holy chocolate bars, back to art....What prompted you to make these pieces? "Everything with the advertising company was pretty fun until last year in May when it collapsed. So, I went to Israel, Berlin, Italy, London." What were you doing? "Holiday." Traveling? "Yeah, traveling.  All the money goes to traveling. And savings. So then I come back here in May. Everything started because the loft was empty, so I need ideas to come up with furniture things.. That's why I started with the police table, and then I did the wine cooler because I like wine, and then everything came together."

How did the gallery come about? "Everyone was coming to my apartment to see what beautiful things I made. So I say, you know what? I took the artistic one that I don't sell, and I decided to present it to the International Contemporary Art Fair at the Javit Center in May. So, one day before I open the ICFF booth I open the gallery."

Have you always been an artist? "They say in some way I've always been, but I donno. I call myself unemployed, there they call me artist....There was a time in New York when I was tired of saying where I live and things like that. Everyone, they ask, 'What do you do? Where do you live?' It's a typical question. Let me see if they can make some connection. What they have money wise, things like that, no? So I started to say unemployed. And after awhile I would say that, I come up with a better story. So when they asked me about what I was doing, I say to them, I'm a dildo maker. If you say to someone you're a dildo maker, if they're really interested in you, to go deeper and ask more questions, you have to have balls. So that was a good thing.  For a month I did that. It was fun, very fun. It was funny to see the reaction." How could you possibly go around saying you're a dildo maker? "So people don't bother me too much, you know?"

As an artist or an unemployed person do you have an idea that you're trying to put across?  "I don't believe in art by itself, art must be functional for me. That's why I don't go to the Metropolitan for example. For Picasso and things like, yes I see, I understand the time and the work and the meaning of that one, but it's not for me. For me I like to make people see the culture aspect of life. The project that I did about New York is a commentary of New York.....One day I was walking along the Williams bridge with someone, and I ask that person, what do you see? They say, 'a car, I see a bridge.' I don't see that. No-one creates anything, everything has already been created. It's just the interpretation of the new life that you're gonna give to something that's gonna make you think. It must be functional in a way that makes you think,  it's so simple, but how come I didn't think of it?"  (The glass police table.)

Onto the reoccuring theme. What thoughts or words come to mind when you think New York? "What do I think about New York? I think it's really true that if you want to make it, you can make it. But I can see the limits. You can make it successfully as a business man, but it would be very very hard to be successful with a private life. There are too many distractions. There's no family life in New York, there is like a lonely life. There's a work life, there's an artist's life.....But after you live here, it would be hard to live in another city because they offer so much here. There are so many commodities here that it would be very difficult to adapt somewhere else."

Do you like it here? "I love it, but I can't have complete peace. I would like to move and have a base here, and come here two times a year." (The inside of the dishwasher.) 

Any unusual experiences in New York?  "Unusual experiences in New York? Everyone has an unusual experience in New York.. I have a thousand unusual experiences from New York. From the people that you meet, to dates that you have, to how many girlfriends you can have, from how lonely you can be. You can be sick and no-one will bring you anything, you can do a party and you have like fifty people that you don't know. You think that you go out with your girlfriend and you discover that your girlfriend is going out with another two people. Or you have a girlfriend and you go out with other people. The social system in New York City is completely fucked up......But after awhile you live here you consider New York as a village, so you have your reference, and you don't get distracted by other things. Then you're gonna start to be educated. But for the first four years, five years, you're gonna be in a car without a map."  

Are you happy?  "Am I happy? Every single day. Don't you feel it?" A little bit. "A little bit? You know, I haven't worked for one year, and I'm kind of a little more happy then I was when I was working. Work will come, now it's about enjoying the life."

Carlo's last statement: "See the positive side."

Are you lying about any of this? "Yes, all of it."

If you’re looking for a piece of furniture or an appliance that will start up conversations when persons come for a visit, check out Carlo’s website at www.thestreetisinthehouse.com.

An Interview With Joe Mangrum, & Then Some

My interest of Joe Mangrum began in March. There were afternoons where I'd catch him an hour or so in, when what ever he was working on was at it's skeleton stage. Then I'd go off somewhere to meet someone or do something for awhile, and return to check out Joe's progression. It was like witnessing the blossoming of a flower, I would see the bud, then hours later the flower, and think, wow, how did that happen? 

I friended Joe on FaceBook, and would consistently see his work on the news reel, until it became evident that I should be finding out more about him. 

This interview is it's own animal in comparison to the others. For one thing I was kneeling most of the time beside Joe as he worked on the piece of that day, while holding my iPhone towards him so it could catch his voice over the wind. When he got up, I got up. When he knelled, I knelled. Yeah, it was pretty fun. Shall we?

So what do you call this? Is there a title for it?  "Sand painting. I'm an artist. I do lots of different things and mediums."

What are some of the things you work on? "I make installations, I do oil paintings, I do collage, I do sand paintings, I do permanent with some sand on a panel, I do photography, I do photographic prints of my work, ah I do."

When did you start working in parks? "Ah, I started in Union Square on August 23rd  last fall, 2009."

Cuz I see you out here all the time..... "Yeah, this is what I do for my day to day, sort of  bread and butter."

Is this how you pay the bills? "This is what I do. Um, this supplements my income so that I can work on other paintings and stuff, as opposed to being in construction, which is what I did before that. I worked in construction in a number of different jobs up until last August. Where now, I've found a balance to create art in the streets, and get enough income from that to support my other projects. I'm making art full time, all the time, in a lot of different mediums. But I've been an artist all my life."

I love that, too many people sacrifice them-selves, for them-selves...When did you get the idea to work with sand? "Ahh Well, I've done temporary works in public for a long time. I went to art school at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and ah, after I graduated I took off traveling for many years. And I couldn't really paint while I was on the road, and to lug all the canvases with me wasn't practical. So, I started doing temporary works out in nature using flowers, and seeds, and berries, and what-not, and photographing it. And it lead to using all different types of materials -- Cutting up cars, computers, ah creating relationships and dialogue between different objects. So after so many years of that I was using sand, like beach sand as part of that.....I was out living at San Francisco at the time, and I started this work out in Southern California, at Laguna Beach, and it eventually just, ya know, you start exploring different things, different ideas. And I was doing a lot of large scale installations up to 60ft. in diameter and 40ft. tall. Which is all pretty simple when you've got access to a huge number of friends with large scale equipment, space, and all that.

But I decided that I was gonna move to New York, and all those resources sort of disappeared. Ya know? When I moved to New York, I was like: What can I do to make art? I started using colored sand back in 2006, and I brought it out in a suit case, and tried it out, and shoou (This was a sound he made.) it worked.

Now, I'm also exploring painting and going back to the canvas, and panel painting to create objects for people to collect, and express painting in a different way."

Can you tell me if you're winging this? "Yeah, pretty much, you know, the painting will start to tell me what it wants after awhile. And certain shapes leave voids, so you wanna fill in the in-betweens. And ah, the color combinations and everything kind of ah, it just starts talking to you like a painting would, just like oil painting or anything else, but using sand, which is a temporary medium."

Do people contact you? Can they buy your art? "Yeah, absolutely, it's just JoeMangrum.com, and my sand paintings are archived on facebook, more so than my website because I post while I'm working.
And I've done plenty of events over the years. I've done commissions for large scale festivals like, All Points West, lots of different stuff like that, as well as private events, weddings, parties, that sort of thing."

Okay, this is a little un-related, but I have to ask.....Did you have a themed wedding?  "Yeah we did, we were planning to move to New York so before we left San Francisco we decided to throw a big party and have our friends and everything, and ah, a true San Francisco style wedding. Um, we did it at the Palace of Fine Arts, and we had everyone come as their favorite artist or a piece of art.

Who was your artist? "Well, I made up my costume. It was a combination between the Mad-Hatter, George Clinton, and Willie Wonka. And then my wife made her own dress which was inspired by art nouveau."

Okay, I've asked my questions. Is there anything you would like to include? "Um, well, I just think this symbol is very important for people to relate to, and engage with. I make these inside an urban grid, and this is like ah sort of organic mandala-like shape, if you will. Um, I don't really like to use the term mandala because it puts -- See the thing is the urban grid, it puts us in a state of psychology where we compartmentalize everything, where everything has it's own little convenient box. And when you use the word mandala, it's actually a Sanskrit word, so people associate it with Eastern philosophy as opposed to relating to it on a Western side. So, I don't like to use the word mandala necessarily, but it accurately describes what I do.

And, in terms of the urban grid, it's like the world is dividing by minutes and seconds by the Gregorian calendar. And those equate distances, and so it puts us in a state where we're out of balance with nature. And it puts us in a psychological division opposed to unity. So, that's why I explore this symbol."

Then a fellow with a small white dog joined us. 

Mr. White Dog: "Is that your design?"

Joe: "Yes."

Mr. White Dog: "What prompted you to choose that if I may ask?"

Joe: "Ah, it's all just made up as I go. It's my imagination just getting poured out onto the sidewalk."

Mr. White Dog: "I'm not making a judgement at that. That's one way or the other. Do you understand anything about the meaning of that? I'm a painter, and a student of psychology."

Joe: "What do you see in it?"

Mr White Dog: "I'm just talking about the purely intrinsic qualities of design."

Joe: "Em-huh. That's like we're peeling an onion of metaphors, so where would you like to start?" (Laughter)

Mr. White Dog: "We can start with the fact that it's non-figurative, it's not an object."

Joe: "It's leaf like, and it's.."

Mr. White Dog: "Suggestive."

Joe: "Suggestive."

Mr. White Dog: "Um that it's symmetrical, the symmetry is basically four-sided."

Joe: "E-huh."

Mr. White Dog: "Um in one way, from a psychological view, I don't wanna shock you with this, but it would be considered symmetrically the kind of design somebody who is schizophrenic would come up with."

Me: "Really?" (Joe laughed.)

Joe: "That's funny."

Mr. White Dog: "Why is that so?"

Joe: "Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic, and so am I."

Me: "That's funny!"

I had to stop recording because Mr. White Dog was very intent with attempting to convince Joe that he was schizophrenic… Apologies for the interruption.

Dear Joe is humble because when I took a closer look at him online I learned that while Joe lived in San Francisco the L.A. Times wrote about his public artwork a number of times, that he has permanent work at the bus stops at 22nd Street and Mission in San Fran, and that he was honored by the Lorenzo de Medici Award at the Florence Biennale in 2003.

So, if you're looking for something that will circulate positive energy visit Joe's website. The link is above.

Lastly, when you spot Joe drop some cash in his suit case. He is a gem of New York City.