ReGeneration Gallery Art Auction and Benefit

by Josh Rubin

A benefit to help homeless teens, Virgin Mobile's Regeneration is auctioning works tonight by several artists, including Barry McGee (pictured above, far right), Rich Jacobs, Caroline Hwang and Jordin Isip, with 100% of the net proceeds going to the non-profits StandUp For Kids and YouthNoise. If you're in the NYC area, you can buy tickets and go to the party for the silent auction or bid online by following the instructions here.

Rainbow Ring Stacker

by Ami Kealoha

Hug them, love them, give them funny names. The toys at Acorn (the latest gift spot picked by Refinery29 for CH) might make you momentarily regress, and that's why you know they're great gifts. The soft knit Rainbow Ring Stacker ($56) and the jungle and farm animal sets ($74) by I Golfini della Nonna are as loveable as they are affordable. To order, call Acorn at 718-522-3760

Keith Michael Face Tee

by Josh Rubin

This 100% cotton crew neck tee from Keith Michael features a diffused print depicting the face of someone you may recognize and an underarm rivet detail. Exclusive to BASE and Cool Hunting, it comes in pre-washed black only.

$75, Buy it at BASE

Hella Jongerius: Layers

by SummerSeventySix

I'd love to see this work (titled Bedstee) from Dutch designer Hella Jongerius go into production. On show in Miami last week at a small satellite exhibition from New York's Moss Gallery, it's part of a textiles series called Layers. It comes across like a room within a room, almost like a child's multi-functional bunk bed, but beautifully crafted from blond wood and heavily embroidered cloth. There's even a fabric candlestick.

More pictures here.

Also on CH: Hella Jongerius for Ikea

Wonder Women: Minnie Riperton and Syreeta

by Ami Kealoha

Arguably one of the most respected singers and songwriters of all time, Stevie Wonder's collaborators were unique and talented artists in their own right, but never garnered the widespread acclaim they deserve. Two notable examples are Minnie Riperton (1947-1979) and Syreeta (1946-2004). For both singers, the music Stevie composed and produced with them was the best of their careers. Both had pure, girlish sounding, almost angelic, voices. And tragically, both died young of cancer. Minnie at just 31.

Minnie Riperton, who had already had a varied career in groups and as a solo artist when she met Stevie Wonder, first worked with him as a vocalist on one of his masterpieces, "Fulfillingness First Finale" (1974). In that same year he produced her solo album Perfect Angel which propelled Riperton, momentarily, to fame with the international crossover hit “Lovin’ You.” But that song is more the exception than the rule on a record filled with rich Wonder-penned, jazz-tinged soul songs like “Take a Little Trip” and the title track. Her next album, Adventures in Paradise (1975), a Wonder production as well, made less of a splash on the radio, but is equally as good, if not better. The two best cuts on the album, “Baby, This Love I Have” and “Inside My Love,” are intimate and dynamic songs that groove deeply, even at a whisper. Both have been sampled repeatedly.

Syreeta is probably best known for the 1979 easy-listening-classic duet with Billy Preston, “With You I’m Born Again.” But her first two albums, Syreeta (1972), recorded while she and Wonder were briefly married, and Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta (1974), an album which playfully and inspiringly tells the story of their relationship from marriage to divorce to friendship, are by far her best work and rank with some of the best soul albums of the era.

All of these would make great gifts for even the most discerning connoisseur of soul music, or any music for that matter. And even many Stevie Wonder fanatics are likely to be missing these pieces from their collection. All four titles are only available as individual CDs from Japan, at close to $30 each. But you can buy the two original Syreeta albums on one limited edition, numbered disc for $20 from Dusty Groove and the two full Minnie Riperton albums on one, import-only CD for only $12, also from Dusty Groove.

by DJ Scribe