The Lo-Down Culture Cast

Artist Leah Dixon, Founder of Beverly's

Host Traven Rice speaks with Leah Dixon [https://www.leahdixonart.com/], an artist and founder of Beverly's NYC [https://beverlys.nyc/], the artist-run bar and exhibition space which recently relocated to 297 Grand Street. Beverly's is an art world favorite that has been in the Lower East Side neighborhood since 2012. In spite of hurricanes and the disasters like the global pandemic, Leah and her community of creative collaborators have kept the space going. She told us about building everything in the bar herself, with a hand saw and lumber from the local shops in Chinatown, and how the boundaries between her own work as an artist and her work in the service industry have evaporated.

Concrete Chronicles Live at City Lore

Photo credit and courtesy: Javier Torres Host Traven Rice talked with legendary street photographers Martha Cooper  [https://www.instagram.com/marthacoopergram/]and Clayton Patterson [https://www.instagram.com/claytonles/] at a live recording of The Lo-Down Culture Cast at their exhibition, Concrete Chronicles, at City Lore [https://citylore.org/about-the-gallery/current-exhibition/]. It was a full house at 56 E. 1st St. The organization works to preserve and foster NYC’s grassroots cultures and heritage, and encompasses a Lower East Side gallery space, performances, lectures, the People’s Hall of Fame, a POEMobile that projects poems onto walls and buildings, and programs throughout the five boroughs. They are kicking off their 40th anniversary with this show featuring these two downtown icons known for documenting the streets of the the city for many decades. The show gathers iconic and rarely seen images spanning the late 1970s through the 2000s, capturing the grit, creativity, and community resilience of the Lower East Side neighborhood. About the show, City Lore wrote: “Widely celebrated for their deep engagement with the city’s streets and subcultures, Martha Cooper and Clayton Patterson have each shaped how the world sees New York. Through distinct yet complementary perspectives, Cooper and Patterson, together with his partner, Elsa Rensaa, have dedicated their lives to recording the human stories that animate the city’s streets. Their photographs capture a neighborhood that became a global symbol of artistic resistance and grassroots resilience. Cooper’s attentive, human-centered images of youth culture, street art, hip-hop, cultural traditions, and neighborhood life stand as enduring records of ingenuity and play. Patterson’s raw, uncompromising documentation of activism, underground art, and the everyday drama of tenement blocks offers a counter-archive to official histories. Together, their perspectives reveal the LES as a crucible of both community-preservation and innovation at the frontlines of urban change.” Special thanks to City Lore's Co-Director, Molly Garfinkel, who helped to curate the show and hosted the live event in their wonderful gallery.

Pianist & Composer Grant Richards with Drummer Roberto Giaquinto - Live at Catalyst Records

Here's a special episode of The Lo-Down Culture Cast, recorded live at Catalyst Records [https://www.instagram.com/catalyst_records_les] in Essex Market. Pianist & composer Grant Richards [https://www.instagram.com/grantrichardsmusic/] and drummer Roberto Giaquinto [https://www.instagram.com/giaquintodrums/] joined host Traven Rice to talk about the hustle of being a jazz musician in NYC today. They played some music composed by Grant Richards and performed some new music from an upcoming album that they have collaborated on titled Orbits Trio+3.  The sound was great and the vibe was warm and welcoming, thanks to Catalyst owner Gary Guarinello [https://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2024/12/the-lo-down-culture-cast-gary-guarinello-of-catalyst-records.html]. NYC-based pianist Grant Richards is an award-winning jazz performer, composer, and educator who adapts to a wide range of settings, styles, and genres. A native of Portland, Oregon, Grant began playing piano at the age of eight. By the time he entered college, he had won four Student Music Awards from Downbeat Magazine and recorded his first album as a leader. He went on to Berklee College of Music on a full-tuition Jimmy Lyons Scholarship. After releasing his second studio album Numinous, Grant moved to Japan for nearly three years where he taught at an international music school and performed often in the vibrant Tokyo music scene. Upon his return to the US, he moved to New York City and served as the Musical Director for the 2019 Jacob’s Pillow Tap Program. In October 2024 Grant released  Menagerie [https://grantrichardsmusic.com/music/menagerie], a vast collaborative songwriting project straddling the line between jazz, pop, and neo-soul which features a host of talented vocalists and musicians living in the NYC area. Recorded in 2023 at Keyboard Heaven in Brooklyn, this 15-track album is a genre-bending journey that has raked in over 200,000 streams across the globe since its release. In addition to being a gigging musician, Grant is a music educator, recording artist, writer and composer.  Italian drummer Roberto Giaquinto started out his musical journey with his older brother in Naples, Italy, playing with different local bands around the city while still in middle school. After moving to Rome, he graduated with a degree in jazz arranging  AND  In 2009, he was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and after moving to Boston in 2010, he was selected to be part of the Global Jazz Institute.

Ali Rosa-Salas From Abrons Arts Center and Henry Street Settlement

Ali Rosa-Salas is a curator whose approach is rooted in the belief that curatorial practice must serve the public good. She talked with host Traven Rice about the history of the Abrons Arts Center [https://www.abronsartscenter.org/] at Henry Street Settlement and the importance of arts within communities like the Lower East Side. For over a decade, Ali has served New York City arts and culture primarily through curatorial projects in live performance. Currently, Ali is the Vice President of Visual and Performing Arts of Abrons Arts Center [https://www.abronsartscenter.org/] at Henry Street Settlement, the only cultural organization in New York City that is part of a social services agency. From 2020-2023, she served as an Associate Curator of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

Dora Grossman-Weir, GM and Wine Director at Tolo, Mitsuru and Sunn's

Dora Grossman-Weir speaks with Culture Cast host Traven Rice about making wine fun and accessible at two new delicious spots in the neighborhood. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dora Grossman-Weir is a hospitality professional with a focus on wine. After spending two and a half years working at the online wine shop and start-up, Parcelle [https://parcellewine.com/], she left to work with the wine team at Momofuku Ko before returning to the group to open Tolo [https://www.instagram.com/tolo_nyc/], a Chinese restaurant from chef Ron Yan (28 Canal St.) and later Sunn's [https://www.instagram.com/sunnsnyc/], a Korean spot from chef Sunny Lee (139 Division St.). She also oversees Mitsuru [https://mitsurunyc.com/] (West 4th and MacDougal St.) as their General Manager and Wine Director. Growing up with a family that loved food, she has always been enamored with great restaurants, exploring different cultures by way of their cuisines, and the intersection of wine and history. Grant Reynolds is the founder behind Parcelle, an independent New York City-based online wine business that began in 2019. He then opened a brick and mortar wine bar in 2022 on Division Street with Chinese chef Ron Yan. The team then opened Tolo (28 Canal) in 2023.