PoPtrekker

The Origin of the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation and Gerard M. Silverman Foundation

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by Hugh Clarke

Ed. Note: Unfortunately Intangible Arts removed the video from his host so the PoPtrekker is no longer available.

I’d like to quickly explain why I called the Washington City Paper’s Jule Banville an idiot. You may recall a few weeks ago the City Paper launched it’s “best of” issue. I know I shouldn’t respond to this but, damn it, I can be weak at times. At any rate, Ms. Banville penned a section called the Best Ridiculous Prince of Petworth Feature [Ha! The City Paper has now deleted Jule’s post but I still have a hard copy. I sure hope they printed a reason for the retraction.] Predictably, she selected the door of the day feature, and oddly a post on the residences at Georgia Ave. For her second “ridiculous” feature, she selected PoPtrekker. While not very witty it was actually quite a compliment to be given my own section. Here’s where I have a problem with what Ms. Banville wrote:

“…he then announces that PoPtrekker is brought to us “by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation.”…And we have to ask: Journalists are losing their jobs faster than they can say “twitterer” and a foundation is giving money to a blogger for this?”

Well, Jule, while it is clear that you are far cooler than I am, I thought the City Paper was an actual newspaper. Even if this was an obvious attempt at a snarky piece, I imagine you could have done a quick google search on the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation and you would have found – nothing. That’s because the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation is not a foundation. It is a tribute to my grandparents. So keep up the good work Jule and thanks for all the attention. You’ll have to let me buy you a beer sometime so I can properly show my gratitude. And I have to ask: Do you consider yourself a journalist?

Update: The ‘Ridiculously Awesome Album Cover of the Week’ is now dedicated to the memory of my father Gerard M. Silverman – a lover of music and one with a good sense of humor. RIP.

PoPtrekker Vol. 3 – Anacostia

By Prince Of Petworth

Welcome to the third edition of PoPtrekker. In case you missed it, you can see Vol. 2 here. This week I visited Anacostia. I’d like to thank Jacqueline who filmed and edited this volume. (Ed. Note: Intangible Arts will be back to film and edit Vol. 4 so don’t hesitate to email me your suggestions for future PoPtrekkers.) I’d also like to thank David from the blog And Now, Anacostia who created a map for me as I had never been to Anacostia before. Good times.

PoPtrekker Vol. 2 – Georgia Avenue

By Prince Of Petworth

Welcome to the second edition of PoPtrekker. In case you missed it, you can see Vol. 1 here. Vol. 2 features Georgia Avenue from the Petworth Metro down to Florida Avenue. The idea for this video resulted from the numerous conversations I’ve had with folks who are terrified of Georgia Ave. I wanted to show that Georgia Avenue is a street like any other (during the day) and there are many spots well worth checking out. I look a bit chewed up in the beginning of the video, so allow me to explain. We filmed this edition after a two night visit to the 9:30 club from one of my favorite bands, the Drive by Truckers. Suffice it to say, I properly represented…I’d like to apologize to the deaf community because I was unable to get a transcript of the video. Does anyone know of any non profits that do transcripts for free? This remains a joint Prince of Petworth/Intangible Arts production.If you have a suggestion for a future PoPtrekker please email me directly.

Wanna Join the PoPtrekker Team?

By Prince Of Petworth

Filming the first volume of PoPtrekker was lots of fun. Thanks for all the nice comments. Anyway, I have lots of ideas and would love to make this a weekly feature. My man, intangible arts not only blogs, has a day job, is a talented musician, but also has a lovely wife so it’s not fair of me to take up too much of his time. He’ll definitely be a big part of the project on at least a monthly basis. But I wanted to see if anyone else out there had a video camera, some editing skills and a couple hours a week (twice a month) to film some other volumes. If you’d like to join the team send an email to [email protected] Stay tuned for the next edition of PoPtrekker at the end of the month.

PoPtrekker Vol. 1

By Prince Of Petworth

Every now and then you just got to try something new. What is life without a bit of risk, yeah? So welcome to a new video feature called – PoPtrekker. PoPtrekker was inspired by the PBS program globetrekker and I thought, hell, I should do something like that around DC. And here we are. As this is the first episode it is a bit rusty in spots and was pretty much filmed all in one take and for the most part was improvised along the way.

This is a joint Prince of Petworth/Intangible Arts production. My man IA did some great filming/editing and I’m grateful for his time and skills. If you have places you’d like to see featured on PoPtrekker feel free to shoot me an email. Currently this will be a monthly feature but if folks like it, I’ll make it a weekly feature. PoPtrekker Vol. 1 takes place at Rock Creek Church Cemetery.