If the six strings on your plain ol’ guitar just doesn’t cut it anymore, then Yuri Landman has the solution: a twelve-string instrument called the Home Swinger, capable of complex tones that your run-of-the-mill acoustic may not achieve.

Landman, from the Netherlands, created the Home Swinger instrument, a spinoff of a previous instrument of his called the Mood Swinger. He created the first Home Swinger last year. It took Landman all of two hours to complete his latest instrument when the inspiration struck.

In 2008 I designed the Moodswinger II for Jessie Stein of the Luyas, That one was 5 kilo and the most perfect version so far. The Moodswinger cost about 1000 Euro and not many experimental musicians have that amount of money for such odd instruments available. The final solution came accidentally. I got a request from a festival organiser in Belfast, UK. He asked me if I could do something with a workshop and I started brainstorming. ‘If I take 1 piece of wood and add 2 pieces to make it more solid and another one for the tuning pegs, than the Moodswinger could exist in its most rudimentary way.

This accidental discovery is one that Landman now shares in workshops around the world. One such of work shop was held at the Knitting Factory, here in Brooklyn New York. It drew a small, but talented crowd all of whom had been in search of a new sound. The engineering seemed a bit complex to me, but Landman assures it’s as easy as putting together Ikea furniture.

The Home Swinger is derived from the Moodswinger, because it is a DIY version of your instrument you can easily build like you do when you buy an IKEA-closet. It’s based on the IKEA concept of predrilled wood pieces. Even the brochure is flirting with the IKEA image.

I hung out with the group, watching/photographing while they got their hands dirty creating their very own instruments from scratch (literally).

Jessie Stein, visiting New York from Montreal, is part of a band called The Luyas. Stein already owns the Mood Swinger, another one of Landman’s design, but still thought it’d be fun to create another while she was in New York.

Su Polo, a talented guitarist and poet who scoured the internet for something new and different, found this and decided she couldn’t wait to get one of her own.

Pat Noecker, a Brooklyn native and musician from the band, These Are Powers. Noecker, a bass player,  said he has been working on modifying his own instrument. So he’s joined forces with Landman in search of different sound. Noecker is yet to play the Home Swing with his band, These Are Powers. Like everyone else, however, he is excited about the instrument, declaring for all to hear that the guitar is “so last century.”

Bryant Davis, a student of Design Technology at Parson’s is also a guitarist. He started a band in lieu of a midterm assignment for one of his classes. “I am the one that makes all the noise,” Davis said. “It came naturally that I started sticking things in my guitar.” Since that didn’t quite do the trick, Davis took Landman’s workshop in order to create something different.

Listen to some of the DIYers talking about the instrument.

The cost of admission into Landman’s Brooklyn workshop was $140.00. Pricey? That depends; think how cool it could be to own a unique instrument that you create with your very own hands. While Landman’s workshop has moved on to other American cities and even other countries, I’d imagine he could be persuaded to set up another workshop if you asked nicely.

To get a feel for what the Home Swing sounds like, play the track below. Full disclosure – it’s Jessie Stein on the Mood Swinger, but the Home Swing sounds just like it.

Jessie Stein – Canary

Run For Haiti from Christine Chika Moses on Vimeo.

It has been weeks since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated the nation of Haiti. Last Saturday Morning, in Central Park, over 9,000 New Yorkers braved cool temperatures to participate in a four-mile run that would benefit the people of Haiti.

Organized by the New York Road Runners and the City’s department of Parks and Recreation, the race is an effort to fund charity organizations currently on the ground in Haiti.

The race started at 68th and East Drive and ended at 72nd and Transverse in Central Park. Many took the race at differing paces, and some brought their loved ones along who came only to offer moral support.

A group of Haitian women sang their thanks and cheered the runners along all the way to the finish line. They chanted “Haiti, Haiti” as thousands of generous New Yorkers took steps toward mending this broken country.

Check out some of my photos from the event.

Shoe Shine With Attitude from Christine Chika Moses on Vimeo.

All right. I am going to keep this one short and quite simple. On the corner of 47th street and 6th Avenue in New York, I came across this charming New Yorker who makes a living persuading passersby into getting a shoe shine. His methods of persuasion are quite different and he certainly caught my attention. I created this short video on meeting him. Enjoy.

Be it rooftops, windows, fire escapes, a truck bed or neighbor’s backyard, the urban farming movement is spreading in New York City. Residents, looking to create accessibility fresh produce, are growing in every nook and cranny of this populous city.

“The poorer the neighborhood, the worse the access is to quality food,” said Lee Mandell. The 48-year-old Bushwick resident is the founder of Boswyck Farms, a hydroponic farm he runs right from his Dekalb loft home.

A New York Times article written in 2008 on Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University inspired Mandell to take up hydroponic farming.

A computer programmer by profession, Mandell has a fondness for plant life that has spanned at least 25 years. He spends much of his free time tending to large leaves of kale, heads of lettuce, sugar snap peas and bell peppers sprouting to life in corners of his home. He uses different hydroponic systems, all of which he built himself.

Some systems, such as the Drip system, simply require clay pebbles or coconut husks, water, nutrients, and a bucket. Others, like the Flood and Drain system, are far more complicated. Mandell enjoys building the systems, no matter how complicated. He would be the first to admit that learning the mechanics involved takes work. He spends some of his time teaching anyone with the willingness to learn how to build a system of their own.

Keeping a farm in a loft requires dedication and commitment, both of which Mandell gives. His bedroom closet houses a small lit nursery where he starts the seedlings and watches over them with great care. Once the seeds progress, they are transferred to different systems that occupy his Bushwick loft. One of the challenges he faces is keeping the plants well lit. The energy that goes into that alone often makes for a steep electricity bill for Mandell, but the venture, he says, is worth the cost.

Mandell believes urban farming is essential in “trying to bring affordable fresh produce to parts of the city where it isn’t available.” According to him, plants grown hydroponically reach maturity faster and have just as much, and sometimes more, nutrients. He believes it is important for everyone to do what they can.

“There are people doing everything from a flowerpot on a fire escape to 20,000 square foot green houses on rooftops,” said Mandell. “I think every way that people are growing food is positive.”

So back to you; tell me how you grow your own food.

How green are your thumbs?(surveys)

Zipping through New York’s underground maze on a Wednesday evening to catch the number 3 train, I came across a street performer called Pearl the Mime.

She stood out in her red costume – large, voluminous skirt, a tinkling scarf at her waist, an off-white wig topped with a funny red hat, and pretty white angel wings. I was instantly drawn in by performer and the performance as were the numerous people who stopped in their tracks when they saw her.

At the end of the performance, just as Pearl the Mime got ready to spread those wings and fly away, I stopped her to ask for an interview, which we set up for a later date and time.

Here it is:

Pearl the Mime from Christine Chika Moses on Vimeo.

For tourists and residents alike, the singers, tap dancers, musicians or Michael Jackson impersonators one is bound to find in New York’s subway world is unique to this city. Becoming part of this underground elite, isn’t easy however.

Pearl the Mime, also known as Margot Carr, had to go through the paces of applying and auditioning with the Music Under New York program, a part of MTA’s Arts for Transit.

In conjunction with a massive rehabilitation program launched in the 1980’s, MTA Arts for Transit was created to oversee the selection of artists and installation of permanent artworks in subway and commuter rail stations. The program encompasses Music Under New York, a Transit Poster Program and the Lightbox Project, a series of photography exhibits.

Of the hundreds of applications sent in to MUNY, approximately 60 performers are selected to audition in front of a panel of judges at the Grand Central Terminal — about half of them make the final cut. Underground performer, Saw Lady, reported in her blog:

This year 270 musicians, dancers and living statues submitted an application to audition. 60 performers were chosen to audition live. About 10% of the musicians who submitted an application form pass the audition.

The dedication applied through this process is something visitors and new comers to the city, such as myself, may not expect of underground performers like Pearl the Mime. The New York Times’ short documentary on the subject gives an interesting glimpse into underground auditions.