Yup, Yup, Yuppie

Back in the Less than Zero ´80s, if you talked about your “young professional” friends, we would have probably turned our mohawked heads on you and sneered, “Yuppies go home!” (That is, if we’d been older than eight.) Then, of course, the thing to do was to collect your MBA and your BMW, and snort a bunch of blow in the bathroom. Today’s crop of young professionals generally fancy themselves as more creative and subversive then their predecessors; in this crowd, it’s more popular to have a repertoire of witty remarks than to bust out an eightball. In short, it’s a group we could hang with. Nowadays, with Reaganomics having gone the way of the dodo bird and Duran Duran, it’s important to get the proverbial bang out of the more elusive buck. In such a climate, you will find no event more intriguing than one thrown by the hip young professionals in GenArt, like Friday’s “Ignite” party. In the “art room,” meet seven emerging artists. In the “film room,” watch shorts by upcoming filmmakers, but more importantly grab a beer from one of the ice buckets, and munch on complimentary candy and popcorn. In the main room, check out two bands -- Flirting through Violence (whom Gen Art director Julia Brown calls “Marilyn Manson meets the Killers”) and Jacuzzi Fuzz (“happy reggae/rock”), plus a “fashion installation” showcasing dresses made from recycled chair covers. Artist Miuki Madelaire will presents a mysterious “ live performance” that will “bring Gen Art's very own action comic book heroine to life.” Out back, soak in the culture of a graffiti wall, “live art” by someone named “Ryan the Wheelbarrow,” and a four-hour open bar.
Fri., Jan. 20, 8 p.m.