Back in art school, Lex Leonard focused on art history and on painting and drawing in the studio. These days, he dedicates himself full-time to the fine art of organizing.”In art school, I was interested in art history, but I just fell out of love with that field,” Leonard says. “I started getting into organizing things. I wanted to be involved in something that was more dynamic, more contemporary.”
In the early to mid ’90s, Leonard, a Hudson County native, fell in with an art collective known as LaDiDa. That group of artists was active around Montclair and West Orange, hosting regular performance events with a singer/songwriter feel. Leonard, 34, credits LaDiDa and related groups, including Urban Art Tribe and Nature’s Friends Farm, as catalysts that inspired him to create today’s Waterbug Hotel.
What’s the Waterbug?
You might’ve already guessed that the Waterbug isn’t your typical “hotel.” In fact, it isn’t a hotel at all – you can check it out, but you can’t check in.
The Waterbug is an art collective and cultural enclave in downtown Jersey City. Basically, it’s a group of guys who organize art events, including the weekly Words&Music series – an edgy, urban experience featuring poetry and live music. Words&Music happens every Thursday night in a delightful dive known as the Waterbug Hotel Annex, tucked above Rolon’s Bar in Jersey City.
Originally, Words&Music took place in the Waterbug Hotel’s world headquarters – the top floor of an old industrial building at 143 Columbus Dr. in Jersey City, where some artists do their creating. But when Waterbug events started taking on a life of their own, the neighbors complained about the noise and traffic in the stairwell. So now, only the occasional smaller, lower-key events are held in the headquarters space that inspired the Waterbug name.
On the day they moved into the vacant loft in April 2003, Leonard says, the only thing there (aside from the walls) was a formidable cockroach – a.k.a. water bug. When Leonard’s collective made its debut on the annual Jersey City Artists’ Studio Tour that fall, he jokingly called the space the Waterbug Hotel, and the name stuck.
During the tour, the Waterbug guys inaugurated the space with a two-day multimedia extravaganza featuring live music, performance art, visual art, spoken-word performances, and a fashion show. The tour organizers were impressed, and they presented the Waterbug crew with an award for the production.
“I see the events that we do and the scene that grows around the events as almost a performance piece – an experience,” says Leonard, the group’s leader and founder.
Leonard’s fellow Waterbugs include co-founders Brian Buchanan, who helped build the headquarters’ bar and stage; Aaron “Middlepoet” Jackson, a commanding spoken-word artist who serves as the group’s poetry coordinator; and Erek Quinones, production guru. Other collaborators include B Paul Julian, Ernest deZavala, Tony Hinds, and Zen Alejandro.
New ‘zine
At the Mayday Art & Music Festival at 111 First St. in Jersey City, the guys launched their latest project – The Waterbug Hotel Digest. The 18-page ‘zine, billed as an insightful Jersey City cultural guide, features profiles of local artists and performers. In the first issue, stories explored Union City-born DJ Funkie Junkie Superstar, Russian-born folk singer Julia Vorontsova, the Jersey City coffee culture, and the Waterbug’s own Middlepoet, whom they say they will install as poet laureate of Jersey City.
If you weren’t lucky enough to snag a copy of the premiere issue of The Waterbug Hotel Digest (more than half of the 300 copies were snapped up at the Mayday event), mark your calendar for the release party for the next edition. The new issue will be available at the next major Waterbug happening: a City Hall bash that also will mark Jackson’s investiture as poet laureate.
In less than two years on the Jersey City arts scene, the Waterbug Hotel has established itself as one to watch.
Waterbug events
Words&Music
Weekly gathering with poetry, live music, featured performers, and open-mic time. It’s a scene – check it out!
When: Every Thursday, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.
Where: The Waterbug Hotel Annex
(above Rolon’s Bar, 7 Erie St., downtown Jersey City)
City Hall Happening
This is the second major ‘bug event at City Hall. Aaron “Middlepoet” Jackson, Waterbug co-founder, will be installed as Jersey City’s first poet laureate.
Also on the agenda: live music by American Watercolor Movement and singer-songwriter Kevin Spyker; spoken word by Nyugen, Broken English, Christine Goodman, and Middlepoet; and visual art by Norm Francoeur, B-Dubs, Nyugen, and Gail Jackson. And it’s the release party for the second issue of the group’s ‘zine, The Waterbug Hotel Digest.
When: Friday, June 25, 6-9 p.m.
(followed by an after-party at L.I.T.M.)
Where: City Hall, 280 Grove St., Jersey City
For more info: see www.thewaterbughotel.com
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
