August 24th Street Festival to Merge Old and New Schools of Urban Culture
NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Marc Ecko, designer and "Navigator of
Youth Culture," is set to recruit the legends of Hip-Hop culture for the
upcoming Marc Ecko's Getting Up Block Party. The first-of-it-kind street
festival, free to the public and held August 24th on 22nd Street between 10th
and 11th Avenues from 12:00PM - 8:00PM, will feature graffiti demonstrations,
live DJs and surprise musical performances in celebration of the golden age of
Hip-Hop. The event coincides with the anticipated release of Atari's
graffiti-based videogame, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.
As a throwback to graffiti's glory days, "Marc Ecko's Getting Up Block
Party" will feature ten 48-foot-long by 8-foot-high replicas of the legendary
NYC transit blue-bird subway cars, which will be transformed into contemporary
urban works of art by renowned graffiti writers. A lineup of legendary
artists, from the notorious 'Bronx bomber and destroyer' COPE2 to T-KID
(Terrible Kid), who first started writing on trains as early as 1974, will
spend the day doing full color murals on the vintage trains.
Other participating graf writers include DASH, WEST, CES, SONIC, IZ THE
WIZ, MIN, DURO, WANE, WEN, DERO, CYCLE, SMITH, PINK, DOC, KEL 1st, MARE139,
CRASH, DAZE, GHOST, and the famous TATS CREW.
Blue-birds, a high point of nostalgia for historians and artists alike,
were often used as an urban canvas by graffiti writers throughout the 1980s
before blasting machines and buffers were used to strip them clean,
effectively putting an end to the era of graffiti artwork on the sides of
trains.
"Graffiti is without question the most powerful art movement in recent
history and has been a driving inspiration throughout my career," said Marc
Ecko, Executive Creative Director for Getting Up. "I'm honored to be bringing
its pioneering creative forces together to look back on its tradition and to
celebrate its future."
In addition to reviving an old school graffiti tradition, the block party
will offer guests the opportunity to participate in live demos of Marc Ecko's
Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure and experience the first truly authentic
video game based on urban culture and graffiti. The videogame, which is being
published by Atari and developed by The Collective for a Fall 2005 release,
brings together over 65 legendary graffiti writers, six of whom will serve as
in-game mentors to its protagonist, Trane.
Event sponsors include GameStop Corp., Truth (http://www.thetruth.com),
Toy Tokyo (http://www.toytokyo.com), Montana paint and Mass Appeal magazine.
About Marc Ecko Enterprises
The youngest member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America's board
of directors, Marc Ecko is founder of *ecko unltd., the world famous rhino
brand. In eleven years since its creation in 1993, the group of companies that
comprise Marc Ecko Enterprises has grown to include: *ecko unltd.(R) men's and
Eckored(R) women's apparel, as well as outerwear, footwear, watches, eyewear,
underwear, belts, bags, hats, small leather goods, formalwear and more. Marc
Ecko Enterprises also includes Marc Ecko "Cut & Sew" (a contemporary menswear
line launched Fall 2004); G-Unit(R) clothing and accessories (a joint venture
with multi-platinum musician, 50 Cent); Zoo York(R) (a line of action
sports-inspired clothing and accessories); and Avirex(R) Sportswear Collection
(a licensed mid-tier brand debuting Spring 2005). The Company also publishes
Complex(R) magazine, a men's consumer magazine with a rate base of 325,000,
and is developing Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure(TM), the
first truly authentic video game based on urban culture and graffiti art
debuting Fall 2005. *ecko unltd. products are available in over 5,000 stores
domestically and in over 45 countries internationally, as well as through
34 of its own retail stores across the country. For additional information,
please visit http://www.marceckoenterprises.com.
About The Collective
Part of Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent game developer
in North America, The Collective is a leading independent developer of console
video games. The Collective has created groundbreaking third-person action
adventure games, including the critically acclaimed Indiana Jones and the
Emperor's Tomb(TM), Buffy the Vampire Slayer(TM) and the soon-to-be-released,
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith(TM). The studio has also developed
the world-class Slayer(TM) game engine and SlayEd(TM) tool suite. The
Collective, along with Backbone Entertainment, Digital Eclipse, Pipeworks, and
ImaginEngine make up Foundation 9 Entertainment. The company's labels have
developed more than 250 titles, including more than 50 in 2004 alone. The
company employs more than 325 employees, and has offices in Los Angeles,
Newport Beach, Emeryville, Vancouver, Boston, Eugene and Honolulu. The
Collective is based in Newport Beach, California, and can be found on the
Internet at http://www.collectivestudios.com.
About Atari
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games
for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of
interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles
include hard-core, genre-defining franchises such as DRIVER(TM), The
Matrix(TM), Stuntman(TM) and Test Drive(R); and mass-market and
children's franchises such as Backyard Sports(TM), Nickelodeon's Blue's
Clues(TM) and Dora the Explorer(TM), and Dragon Ball Z(R). Atari, Inc. is a
majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA
(Euronext - ISIN: FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in
Europe. For more information, visit http://www.atari.com.
ATARI, the ATARI logo, and classic Atari game titles and logos are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Interactive, Inc. or its
affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Marc Ecko Enterprises
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Related links:
http://www.marceckoenterprises.com
CONTACT:
Clint Cantwell of Marc Ecko Enterprises,
+1-917-262-1110 or clintc@ecko.com
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