DESTROY LA!

Has anyone else noticed the stream of kick-ass bands that have been pouring out of Australia’s electro scene? The release of Cut Copy’s new album, In Ghost Colours has brought the matter to my attention recently. I love the direction the band has taken their sound, moving away from the 80’s dance pop retread of Bright Light Neon Love and embracing their inner rock stars. I say that “Strangers in the Wind” is the Beyonce of the album, with steel pedal guitar conjuring up musings of what Fleetwood Mac would sound like had they come up in this generation.


Van She and Midnight Juggernauts are quickly following in the wake left by CC. After appearing on everybody’s bands to watch list in 2008, the two groups have continued remixing and performing, developing their sound. Everyone is still waiting for Van She to release and LP, Midnight Juggernaut’s Dystopia was on all over music blogs in ‘07. You can catch all 3 bands at Coachella this year. I’m so stoked.


I Worked on an Anusha video last week. I loved the wardrobe girls. The hours were ridiculous and the male models were a bit disappointing. As I filled in graves with the video director at 5 in the morning after a 20 hour day I discovered that perhaps production just isn’t for me.


The Bloody Beetroots performed at Blow Up! LA yesterday in down town. The venue was big and hot, unfortunately most of the people were not. Their set was fun though and I danced off the days calories with my friends, not paying much attention to the sketchy crowd around me. Rhonda was fun last week from what I can remember. Jeremy Scott was pretty good on the turn tables. I’m still obsessed with his Right to Bear Arms collection. How dangerous is it to have a party night within walking distance of your apartment? It’s a major health risk.

My obsession with Blingee is out of control. For those of you that are still living in the dark ages of plain Myspace profile pics, check it out.

Onto some coverage of the haps in LA. NASA at La Cita was awesome. These dudes are they’re really funny and fun and they totally bring that energy to their DJ set. I really like the space too, even though everyone ditched the place for PYT, I still think the size is more manageable. I just hate the layout at Jimmy’s. I couldn’t make it to the Cut Copy after party last night, ironically enough because I had to update my blog on the music scene in LA.

Diplo at Crash Mansion last week was too big to be intimate and not crowded enough to be intoxicating. Does that make sense? That place is just too big. I just couldn’t get into. That could have also been because I had a crazy fever and going out was a really bad idea.

I almost tripped over Ben from Felicity at a party in the hills the Friday night. He was just lying on the floor, but how hot is he still? I had a good time, a DJ whose face I was trying to place the whole night was playing fun tracks (I think he also spins at PYT) and the rub-on tattoos were plentiful.

With the school work, work work, internship work, art work and nightlife I feel like I barely have time at all to just sit and take a breath. It was a nice change of pace to spend Saturday night watching early 90’s cartoons.

Speaking of which, if anyone who is reading this remembers a live action movie from the mid 90s about samurai rats who control the elements, or anything that even closely resembles that please give me a shout out. I know I couldn’t have made the whole thing up in my head. The mystery is eating me alive.

Shop at Scout

Justice at the end of the month!!!

Peace Out.

There’s this great tool called Zotero, if you’re anything like me and you suck at bibliographies, this is a great way to organize.  Here’s an  example of a resource I pulled up using USC Library Catalog.

Butler, Cornelia. WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2007. 10 Mar 2008.

This book chronicles the uprise of feminist art in the 70s. It accompanied an important exhibition at LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I first came in contact with this reading in a gender studies course. The books holds significance in this world as a marker for the presence of females in the art world.

WACK! explores how feminism wand the struggles women faced in the second half of the 20th century was reflected in the art that was produced in that era. It presents the work of important and influential artists from the period, artists such as: Chantal Akerman, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Judy Chicago, Mary Heilmann, Sanja Ivekovič, Valie Export, Lucy Lippard, Ana Mendieta, Annette Messager, Alice Neel, and Yoko Ono.

The art that is covered in WACK! ranges from painting photography, sculpture, film, video to installation. The collection features some of the Untitled Film Stills of Cindy Sherman, an artist that has be profoundly influential in my work, as well as that of countless of artists all over the world.

The art that is covered in this book is relevant to my subject because it invokes the fire of revolution. It is a testament to the women who pushed the boundaries of the art world, a field dominated by white men. This is actually a very topical issue even today. The opening of the BCAM building for LACMA was greeted with open criticism from feminist artists due to their over representation of white, male artists.

I feel like one of the great things about Los Angeles is the diversity that exists within this city and that exists in the art and music world. I believe that it is important that in my work I help promote this aspect of Los Angeles. It is disturbing how many of the worlds most recognized contemporary artists come from a same fraction of our population.

Peace Out

After along and difficult search I can finally say that yes, I have found my social bookmaking soul mate and I am oh so happy about it. Following the stress of my recently failed relationship (don’t worry I’m way dealing with it) it’s good to know that there are other people out there in the world with similar interests, with whom I can share my passion for life in this beautiful city we call Los Angeles. Do you want to know the name of the charming individual for home my social bookmarking little heart has become electricity and sparkles? The name is “schnd.” Isn’t that so cute?

It really wasn’t easy for me to find a social bookmarking soul mate. Yes, you may look at the topics I cover and think, “oh, whats the big deal, everyone likes going out?” But here’s the sitch homie: Not that many people take going out as seriously as I do. Ok, so maybe that’s not entirely true, BUT not many people have the dedication and ability to translate said passion for Los Angeles lifestyle into a del.icio.us account. But, I’m not complaining. It’s always better when there’s a chase involved.

Let me tell you all about how I figured this connection out. Ok, so first I was online and I brought up the Google engine and it was hard at first to think of where I should start. Luckily, I had just watched my (awesomely bearded) professor’s short clip on this very subject, so I had a pretty good guide to follow. I knew that it would be best to just go straight to del.icio.us and do a search for a site that was iconic of the type of tags I’m interested in.

From there I went on to clicking on everyone who had also bookmarked the site and followed the links to find out what other sites they had bookmarked. Here is where the trouble came in, lots of people like to bookmark a site that’s fun and about music events in their city, however it tends to be as an afterthought and most of the time none of their other tags had anything at all to do with my fashion, art or music. It was frustrating indeed and left me with a feeling the way I used to when I wake up next to some random guy and then realize he was a complete loser.

Side note: I am not looking forward to starting that trend again. Let’s cross our fingers and hope the newly single me doesn’t make the same mistakes as pre-relationship Me.

In the end though, I came across “schnd” and I knew I had found my Christian Slater. I excitedly added him (he’s going be a him, cause I like it better that way) to my network and began to browse through his pages. I found so many new great sites which I will probably be going to pass onto you (does anybody read this?) in the coming weeks.

I’ll start off with introducing you to ForYourArt. I’m surprised that this great little site wasn’t on my radar. It’s a fun, well designed blog that features posts on the art scene in Los Angeles. I like that it seems that the site editors are aware of what’s relevant to today’s youth. They have posts of cool new exhibits and museums like the Getty, as well as buzz on what’s going on in the fashion scene in the city.

Another great find was LAXArt. The site keeps a well updated record of what’s happening in the Los Angeles art scene. It highlights upcoming exhibitions and features posts that get you excited about the upcoming events (btw, these events are a great way to meet guys)

BTW, If you haven’t already been to BCAM, you need to go ASAP. It’s kind of a big deal.

“Schnd” is so cute in that endearing kind of dorky way. I mean, look at the clothing sites he bookmarks: Busted Tees, Fashion Punk and Oingo Boingo Shirts. I’m sorry, but you get caught dead in any of those shirts you’re just a huge dork, but in the cutest way of course. It’s good to know he cares enough about clothes though to be looking shirts up online.

He also bookmarked Stereogum, a site I’ve talked about on my blog before and that I’ve always had nice things to say about.

To add to the mix, he’s bookmarked the Arclight(good call, everyone at the Grove is an idiot), Aint It Cool News and Variety. He cares about film!

I love that I’m capable of developing a crush on a collection of bookmarked sites. Am I on the rebound or what? Go to del.icio.us and check out “schnd”. Add him to your network.

My RSS Feeds:

To anyone who may be reading this page: check out my PageFlakes:

On the site you’ll find a great collection of music, fashion, gossip and scene blogs all rolled into one little page. I guarantee that you’ll be thankful the next time your at work and only have one page you need to close and hide from your boss.

L.A. Record

Check out this site to find info on upcoming events in Los Angeles. The events are typically limited to concerts and festivals, however the site also features reviews, previews, interviews and features. From the site:

The L.A. RECORD is an independent weekly publication for the Los Angeles music scene that looks like a poster but reads like a newspaper–a descendent of LA tabloids like Slash and Confidential.

Downside of the site is that it tends to cover the rock scene a lot more heavily than the electro/house scene.

When You Awake:

This great little blog was started by a friend of mine and covers musical events and album releases. It features album reviews and mixtapes from prominent bands. The site kinda has a country twang to it in that Silverlake kind of way. Me likey. From the site:

We may live in the city but we sure do miss the country! When You Awake is our ode to country life as well as a chronicle of the current indie country/folk/rock and roll/roots scenes in LA, New York, and any place where people listen to songs that tell stories. We’re looking to bring you the best in revival goodness: Music, Style, Events, Recipes, whatever strikes our fancy…keep checking back as we update daily!

Stereogum

This awesome blog has a few great recurring features, such as “Quit Your Day Job”, which explores the day jobs of a different indie musician each week and “Video Hangover of the Week” , a feature which resurfaces an awesomely bad video from the past. This comes on top of the regular reviews and band features.

The Cool Hunter

This great little site can provide hours of eye candy. The blog features exactly what the name implies: cool stuff. From cars, to architecture, fashion to food, this blogger has passion for anything cutting edge.

The Face Hunter

An off shoot of the Cool Hunter, this is a great site to hit up for pics of fashion forward young folk in case you need a jolt of inspiration. What’s great about this site is that it gives you a pretty international sampling of what people are wearing on the world’s streets. From the site:

A man out and about in London and beyond: eye candy for the style hungry.

Defamer

This site is best suited for those of us that like gossip/entertainment news, but like to consider ourselves to be part of alternative culture. The blog includes posts on television and movie news. Guilty pleasure.

The Scenestar

Check out this site for news about L.A. music events (concerts, etc). The site also features some great interviews and tons of awesome photos. I question the taste level a little when it comes to some of the bands that are covered and I can’t say I really get the point of concert reviews, but the interviews make up for these minor problems.

Valerie

Je t’aime Valerie. This blog has so much to offer, I can’t praise it enough. With all the attention that bands like Justice and Daft Punk get, people tend to forget about anything not associated with Ed Banger. I love the french house scene and the tracks that come through here are awesome. Plus, the blog even has it’s own theme song. Check this out to stay on the up with some hot Electro.

Hustler of Culture

I use this site all the time to keep updated on what’s happening in the art world. This site features updates on events happening in the art scene in L.A. It definitely is youth oriented and tends to have a focus on contemporary art. I have found out about some amazing exhibitions from this blog.

The Hype Machine

Most people know about this site already. It’s a music blog aggregator, you can search for and artist and the site’s engine will skim a large number of blogs looking for any mp3 files that have been posted of that artist’s music. It’s a handy tool.

Perez Hilton

Needs no introduction. Vh-1 has given him a regular TV spot, he’s been given a record label. The whole world is reading it, you should too.

Last, but not least, you can use the Universal Blog Search tool on my page flake to search through blogs and find any kind of specific information you may be craving that isn’t already featured by one of the blogs I’ve highlighted. I decided to go with the Universal Blog Search rather than the Universal News Search because it seems like blogs tend to cover more obscure artists.

Moving on.

You should check out my Diigo bookmarks:

So far they include Valerie, Face Hunter and the Cool Hunter, which I’ve covered above. I’ve also bookmarked Fluo Kids, a nifty little site that comes by way of France. Each post features a hot photo and and even hotter mp3. The site also features an international list of cool parties. Check it out.

Also, Check out my post on my social bookmarking soulmate. It’s full of hidden cries from my failing love life. It also explains some of the pageflakes thatI got from my soulmate.

I want to take some time to talk about Zotero. This nifty little tool allows you to categorize and annotate articles and books that you’ve found online. After going to the Zotero homepage and installing the tool, it appears at the bottom, left hand corner of your browser. You use the tool by going to a page online where an article lives and then adding the page to Zotero, from there you edit the information in the categories that pop up in the bottom left hand corner. After you’re done with this you can click on the article in your Zotero browser and create a bibliography. I have found that this tool is a great way to skip the stress of trying to remember how to format a bibliography. I love it. Here are some sources I have found:

Grody, Steve. Graffiti L.A.: Street Styles and Art. New York: Abrams, 2006. 10 Mar 2008

Graffiti is one of the most most rich traditions that contemporary Los Angeles has to offer the art world. Since graffiti is now a global phenomenon, it’s important to be aware of it’s history. Now that hip-hop has co-opted graffiti as both a style and form of expression, it can get easy to forget that this particular art form had to have been developed by real people in recent decades. It’s amazing to think back to the 1980s and to the people who unwittingly where creating a form of art that reach a global celebrity that they never would. This book explores the history of graffiti, and details how Cholo scripts became the first letter forms to appear in graffiti. These were the seeds that acted as a catalysts for artists of all different backgrounds to begin using their own unique culture as a means for developing for own brand of graffiti. This book provides a visual history of graffiti in LA. It takes the phenomena all the way back to the 1930s and explores its cultural significance not only to the art world, but the the regional culture from where it came. It also explores the types of graffiti that are in use today. The book also includes interviews with important figures in the colorful world of graffiti.

Graffiti is important to make note of because in a lot of ways it captures an essence of Los Angeles that exists in much of it’s art. It’s this sense of the urban, of a melting pot and an reshaping of traditional cultures into something new and exciting. The kind of hardened, gangster feel that is associated with it, combined with the colorful, expressive reality of the work is also a good metaphor of the Los Angeles in general.

Trilling, Daniel. “New world order.” New Statesman 136.4859 (2007): 36.

Frankel, Dextra. Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists 1980-2006. Los Angeles, CA: Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art: Southern California Council of the National Museum for Women in the Arts, 2007.

You can find a post featuring another Zotero source here. 

End epic post. Peace Out.

Trying to keep your balance and dance while sitting on the back of a bar bench in a club takes a lot of talent, especially when the old guys behind you keep shifting around. Just one of the many things I learned Sunday night at L.A. nightclub LAX. My other lesson? Always take a human tripod with you everywhere you go (that’s where the short roommate comes in handy). All in all though, I can’t complain about my return to nightlife after two weeks spent indoors due to a death in the family and an illness that crept out of nowhere and knocked me out cold.

I arrived with the two BFFs and after avoiding lines and making it through the bouncers without a hitch (I still impressed with how BFF Blonde is always so good at that) we get inside and the club is well…kind of cold. This didn’t bode well for me since my cough still had a death grip on my throat. Luckily, as we made our way in deeper the typical, stuffy warmth was in full effect.
Let me just comment on how awkward these three guys were who just kept trying to come into the roped off section of the club even though the DJ’s PR kept telling them to get out. Keep in mind that the section was about as big as a normal sized table in a bar (hence the aforementioned dancing on back of bar bench). Do some people like being embarrassed and told to go away?

I’m not sure if it was the sets of DJ AM, Steve Aoki, and MSTRKRFT that
kept me dancing all night, or if the cough medicine had something to do with it, but I liked whatever was happening to my body.