Last night was the grand opening of The Bridge, a dance party and arts event hosted by Chaney, at the Den, the bar at the Fox Theater. Though I don’t really do a lot of clubbing these days, I was really glad I attended this event. Aside from celebrating the birthday of my good friend Christine, I also enjoy the scene. The crowd would best be described as “grown and sexy,” and the music was a mixture of classic ’80s, ’90s. and 2000s hip hop hits. Plus–and this was the best part of the event–there was a vending area featuring local artists. I was so happy to see Malik Seneferu, one of the Bay Area’s best African American artists, doing a live painting demo. I also had the good fortune of meeting the artist Dead Eyes, a street artist whose work I have see all around Oakland. We are, I believe, kindred spirits of the art realm, in that we both love effect of the heavy Black line in our art. I’ll be adding a link to his facebook page on my blogroll in the coming days. Stop back and check it out.

By the way, the guy in this drawing was probably the only guy at the event who was wearing a white t-shirt. This picture is based on one of the few moments when he wasn’t covering his shirt with a black cardigan. I think he was with one of the artists, or else just really interested in their work.

Ajuan Mance