CHITCHAT: REVOLUTION CHURCH'S JAY BAKKER
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[photo credit: Revolution Church | Jay Bakker]
LOWDOWN: Revolution Church was started in Phoenix, AZ in 1994 by Kelli Miller, Mike Walls and Jay Bakker. These three saw a desperate need within their community for the love of Christ as it was evident that the church was ignoring and even blatantly rejecting a whole subculture of people based on their appearance and lifestyle. Revolution sought to meet this need through having services that featured bands, DJ’s, art exhibits, a coffeehouse and guest speakers. Their goal was to include everyone in the community, no matter how diverse their lifestyle. [more of Revolution’s history]
Today, Revolution Church calls Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn home. Anyone and everyone is welcome at their Services - which take place every Sunday at 4pm. Founder and resident pastor, Jay Bakker (his parents are ministers turned TV-hosts Jim and Tammy Faye) has witnessed firsthand both the good, and bad of the church. Revolution focuses on community involvement, showing people unconditional love and grace, without any reservations due to their lifestyles or background - past or future.
OutAboutBrooklyn ChitChat with Revolution Church's JAY BAKKER
Q: Who is Jay Bakker?
A: I'm like anybody really - just a bunch of shared experiences. That's a hard question to answer. I'm somebody who is trying really hard to love people, and get other people to love people. And at the same time, I'm very insecure and conflicted. I'm a pretty normal person, who had extraordinary parents - that rubbed off on me, in a very positive way.
CHITCHAT: THAT'S MY JAM'S TIKKA MASALA
[photo credit: Syd London | DJ Tikka]
An OutAboutBrooklyn ChitChat with TMJ's TIKKA MASALA
Q: Who is Tikka Masala?
A: I am your local DJ, who throws That’s My Jam in Brooklyn. I’ve been DJ-ing BK and beyond for the past 5 years and have had the opportunity to collaborate and share stages with some incredible world-class musicians and DJ’s (MC Lyte, Jean Grae, Talib Kweli and DJ Premier in September, Toshi Reagon and Me’Shell Ndegeocello Pharoahe Monch, and more on my Facebook page), but my favorite scene is the local BK queer party scene. The audience at TMJ is a DJ’s dream crowd for their breadth of musical appreciation. They have really made this party the center of my DJ world.
CHITCHAT: I'MFROMDRIFTWOOD.COM'S NATHAN MANSKE
[Nathan Manske - Founder - I'mFromDriftwood.com]
An OutAboutBrooklyn ChitChat with IFD's NATHAN MANSKE
Q: When did the light bulb go off in your head to create “I'm From Driftwood?”
A: December 18, 2008, to be exact. I saw Milk the night before, and that next morning I was half asleep thinking about that image of him on the hood of a car in the San Francisco Pride Parade, holding a sign that read, "I'm From Woodmere, NY." I thought it was interesting that our most prominent gay rights leader is from a mostly obscure town. So I had just watched Harvey's story, and was just shown where he's from, and that combination of "who" and "where" was interesting to me. It really was like a light bulb turning on. I never set out to create a website, it just kind of happened through inspiration.
CHITCHAT: THE BROOKLYN COMMUNITY PRIDE CENTER'S TOM SMITH
An OutAboutBrooklyn ChitChat with BCPC's TOM SMITH
Q: Where did the idea for a Brooklyn Community Pride Center (BCPC) come from?
A: Marty Markowitz was the guest speaker at a monthly meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club NYC, and was asked why Brooklyn was the only Borough left without a Center, also the only Borough without even HIV services or other services for the LGBT community. Marty immediately said that there needed to be one. Soon after that meeting his staff helped to reach out to the community to create the committee that with time became our board.
CHITCHAT: 23% PURE'S JEFFREY KILMER
LOWDOWN: 23% Pure is the debut book by Williamsburg based photographer, Jeffrey Kilmer. The coffee table-esque hardcover is a provocative collection of hipstery, punked out dudes he snapped while traveling the world on business. Scars, black eyes, and tattoos were not a prerequisite for his subjects who range from 17 to 29, but in each richly colored shot, every boy appears to have at least one or more. Kilmer found his "models" on MySpace, in a non sketchy/cyber-stalker way, and asked them to dress as they would in every day life for their shoot. 100 or so clicks later, he had captured the perfect look. The end product is a fascinating digital exposé of our world's alternative youth over the past decade. Using natural lighting, Kilmer framed the young men who hail from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, in their own lush pastoral and post-industrial backdrops - that are both gritty and elegiac. As critic Mike Albo observes in the book's introduction, these photos capture that brief, vanished moment in history when young people marketed themselves unguardedly online. The pictures also preserve, with unwavering precision and compassion, the tenuous, trembling youth of their subjects. It doesn't matter if the guys in 23% Pure are actual rebels or posers prepping for the runways of Milan - their images are truly worth a thousand words.
Read OAB's ChitChat with Jeffrey, on the other side of the click.