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Recap: Art Beats + Lyrics, Compound, Friday, Sept. 14

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Sometimes actions speak for themselves. In a room full of people talking, more can be said through gesture than words. With art to back them up, the signals at the eighth annual Gentleman Jack Art Beats + Lyrics last Friday were at once wild, thought-provoking, sexy and simply fun.

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For more photos from Art Beats + Lyrics, check out Carlos Bell’s Facebook album.

One of the best things about AB+L is seeing city slick Compound turned into an outpost for culture seekers and sanity savers. Events like AB+L make me feel good. And founders Jabari Graham and Dwayne “Dubelyoo” Wright do it well. Just thinking about how much preparation must have gone into the installation earns respect. And thinking about how I ran into them at Octane on the Westside back in June, planning. But also knowing that these two have perfected the process, enabling them to take the multimedia extravaganza from Atlanta to cities such as Charlotte, D.C., Houston, Miami and St. Louis over the last four years.

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The text got you in, but the cards were intentional, passing from one hand to the next in anticipation of hearing Shock G say, “the one who put the satin on your panties,” and watching everyone nearby say the same.

That’s when we walked in. Or shortly before. Enough time to order and sip one of my first $8 Jack & Cokes. That’s part of the price you pay for sweetly skipping the line where we’d have received drink tickets. According to Jabari, there were probably 800 or so who ended up on queue, while another 4,000 total made it inside.

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I am thankful for Art Beats + Lyrics because I am at once entertained and exposed. Comfortable and just the right amount of nervous. Crunk and completely uncertain of what I will hear or who I will meet next. In all ways, it is nice.

Especially with DJs such as House in the Park’s Ramon Rawsoul and WRFG’s Tabone taking charge. How “The Soul Chamber” host went from house music to trap boy anthems before I stopped dancing long enough to notice, I don’t know. Once I did, I couldn’t help but share my praise with a friend, pause for enjoyment, and keep dancing.

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I sometimes wish more Atlanta gatherings had the AB+L vibe. Yes, I love days like this. But these kinds of nights are way cooler.

ATL Greenhouse brings house music to Piedmont Park on Saturday

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ATL Greenhouse celebrates its fourth year at Piedmont Park on Saturday, and yes, both the weather and the DJs will be hot.

DJ Yusef, Cullen Cole, DJ Theo, and Stan Zeff and DJ BE of Tambor will be playing house music under the pavilion for a mixed crowd of house heads, families enjoying the park and curious onlookers.

While those five DJs round out the organizing crew, special guests DJ Tabone of WRFG-FM’s “The Soul Chamber” and vocalist Sheila Ford add more heat to the bill. Ford will perform around 6 p.m.

“Right now, we are the only ones doing anything at Piedmont as far as soulful house. We wanted to be able to bring different nationalities together to be able to freely express themselves through music and dance at an outdoor event,” DJ Yusef says.

Yusef says the process for obtaining his permit for an event at Piedmont Park was fairly easy, especially once the city and the Conservancy understood the event’s mission. “They were open once we expressed what we were doing and that it was an event that was for all families and children, and the type of music that we’re playing because it doesn’t consist of hip-hop, which is a different cultural thing,” he says. “We play music that people can respond to, relate to, dance to. A lot of the music that we play are spiritual songs, African, things like that. It’s just a matter of convincing them that you’re bringing an event that is family-oriented that’s just a lot of different.”

The event is free and is from noon to 9 p.m.