The King of Pop Is Dead
Reportedly, pop icon Michael Jackson has passed away after suffering from cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home earlier today. The singer was rushed to the hospital in a coma but paramedics were unable to revive him, after which he was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. The King of Pop was 50 years old.
With a career starting as early as age eleven with the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson is widely considered one of the most influential artists of the past century, and remains one of the world's best-selling musician of all time. The singer was in Los Angeles rehearsing for his upcoming sold-out performances next month which have obviously been canceled.
Jackson is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.
Scott Ian's Food Coma: One Hell of a Culinary Town
Bon Scott once said, Hell aint a bad place to be. I couldnt agree more as my adopted city turns into a Rammstein video shoot. Los Angeles is burning, San Diego is burnt and its snowing Malibu ash. Serious shit for this town. Yes, what was an arsonists wet-dream of a week was the top story across the board, barely beating out Marie Osmond passing out because shes crazy.
Ive been in Los Angeles for 18 years now and I know Ive developed a disaster callous because driving on a freeway next to a hillside in flames is just interesting enough to get me to stop typing on my iPhone (yes, I am THAT GUY or that gay. Either one works.)
I do love this city and I wouldnt want to live anywhere else. Im a New Yorker that would rather live in La La Land than back in the old neighborhood. Fuck the old neighborhood. Small-minded bitter assholes hanging out in dank, old-man bars, drinking from their mugs of sadness and failure as life passes them by. Im not judging, maybe Im stereotyping a bit, but Ive been there. It smells bad.
I come from a New York that doesnt exist any more so theres not much for me to miss. I used to miss the restaurants
Ah, now hes getting to the point of all this. Were you worried it was going to be like an episode of John From Cincinnati (like you watched that piece of crap) where nothing happens and nothing makes sense yet you still come back every week because its Milch and he did Deadwood and you hope something will crack and the only thing that ends up cracking is your head against the wall in frustration? That was me.
So the point is, I used to miss the food. Used to. New York used to lord over Los Angeles as a culinary town but not any more. Some people will disagree with me on this so I will fight them. Fight them with words. Really fancy words like Sous-Vide, and Affinage, and Amuse Bouche, and Rape, (the vegetable not the assault, look it up.)
Me being more akin to the lowbrow, Ill spell it out this way; I just fucking love food and in the last five years Los Angeles has become a premier dining city and thats what Im guhna fuhkin write about if dats OK wit yous.
Editor's Note: Scott Ian plays guitar for revolutionary metal band Anthrax and also for Pearl, on tour now in the UK. SuicideGirls is proud to welcome him as a columnist. Now throw up them horns
Artwork credit: Shepard Fairey
No Child Left Behind
Unless, of course, they're expelled for having their wrists broken by school security guards.
A young black woman was attacked by a Knight High School security guard in Palmdale, CA, for not sufficiently cleaning up the floor after dropping a piece of birthday cake on it. He subsequently broke her arm, then he and his buddy attacked the folks who were using their cell phones to videotape and take pictures of their attack.
The mother who complained was herself arrested and is now suspended without pay from her job WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT!
The young woman and the two who bore witness to the attack by taking photo and video evidence WERE ALSO ARRESTED for assaulting the officer of the high school security. [In addition to assault charges] The young woman was also arrested for littering as well.
Watch this video: the girl went back to clean up the dropped cake three times and finally left for class when the security guard decided to get all George Wallace on her.
As Brownfemipower points out, shit like this does not exactly help black (or brown, or poor) kids with that whole "stay in school and succeed" party line. And no, this isn't an isolated incident: in March, Florida police arrested and cuffed a kindergarten girl for having a tantrum, a few years ago there was a lawsuit filed over frequent arrests of Indian children at school in South Dakota, the drug raid at Stratford High School, where--though the student body is 80% white--90 of the 107 students arrested were black. And of course you've heard--I hope!--of the Jena 6. I'm willing to bet you all can come up with other stories like this, too.
Then of course there are the high-profile cases of police violence/harassment of black adults: Amadou Diallo and Rodney King are the famous cases, but here are a few more recent ones: Kathryn Johnson, Jessie Lee Williams, Jr., Timothy Stansbury, Robert Davis, Frank Jude, Jr., Timothy Stansbury, Jr., Juan Herrera, Donovan Jackson,
Whether you want to admit that this kind of racist authoritarian bullshit is endemic or not, you have to acknowledge that there's good reason for young black people to distrust authority figures. Especially when the kid videotaping the assault on the cake-dropping girl also gets roughed up and arrested, and the girl's mother gets arrested--and suspended from her job--for marching into the school--as any parent would after a security guard broke her daughter's wrist and demanding the guard's arrest.
Below is footage from a protest at the school last Friday.
Another news story here. The moms of the students arrested are demanding that the guard be fired and their children's expulsions reversed.
Bitch_PhD is amazed by the women's restraint; she'd be suing the pants off the guard, the principal, and the district, if it were her kid.
Please Stop Me From Putting Fries In My Tummy
It has come to this. On September 18th, the Los Angeles city council will vote on whether or not to create a two-year moratorium on new fast food restaurants. Yes, our government is slapping the hamburgers out of our fat, greasy hands because we cannot control ourselves. If passed, Los Angeles would become the first city in the country to adopt a health-zoning law in the US.
"Fast food is primarily the only option for those who live and work here," says City Councilwoman Jan Perry. "It's become a public-health issue that residents be given healthier choices."
Yeah, thats it. People are fat because the bad food is accessible, not because they want to eat it all the time. Its not because they enjoy the taste of greasy French fries over salad, but rather because they just cant find anything else to eat. Obviously, if we just stop companies from building new fast food franchises, then people will be healthy. It is so simple! And so retarded!
"Limiting fast food could be a practical solution if it starts to address the imbalance of too many outlets with food that is not nutritious," says Mark Vallianatos, director of the Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Yeah, totally. Legislate the problem away. Super way to address the imbalance. Totally worked with prohibition. Oh, and what the fuck is a Center for Food and Justice? Also, what are you doing with your life, Mr. Food Justice?
But the pro-fast food moratorium peeps are "helping society."
"The side effect of a constant diet of fast food is that society pays in the long run in medical costs.
Great argument. How about I dont make a list of things that are bad for us that we could legislate against? I dont have the time, the space on the website and I am not a moron.
The targeted neighborhood is South Central LA. Forty-six percent of all restaurants in the district are fast-food chains. On the west side of LA, only twelve percent of restaurants are fast food chains. Huh, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that fast food is cheaper than regular restaurants? People in South Central do not make the crazy money that people on the west side of LA do. Also, poor people often do not have the same amount of free time to eat that rich people do. But please ignore these facts, so you can think you are helping people.
Perry and her supporters acknowledge that health zoning raises some questions: Will other healthier restaurants move into the region if new fast-food outlets are prohibited? Can the city government aid that transition? Will residents frequent restaurants with healthier options?
No. Better not. No. That was easy.
"If a particular community wants to kick out certain kinds of food, that is one thing. For outsiders to do it is patronizing and demeaning," says USC professor Barry Glassner.
Really? Its weird to legislate how black people should eat? I never would have guessed.
Id be okay with the government spending money to educate how people should eat and to create anti-fast food ads similar to the anti-smoking ads that are now prevalent. Obesity is a serious problem and it does tax our healthcare system, but slapping the butter out of fattys hand is not the answer.
Los Angeles Versus The Beastie Boys
My phone rang early Sunday evening, it was my buddy Dave inviting me to see the Beastie Boys at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Some great tickets fell into his lap and I jumped at the chance to go. I had not seen them live in many years. The opener, whoever it was, was already on stage by the time I got the call.
We jumped in the car and I rang FearTheReaper to invite him along. But he was still recovering from his 40th birthday party...sucks to get old, right buddy? The old FTR would have lept at the chance. I hope staying home and rubbing your feet or whatever you did was worth it.
The Greek Theater is one of the best mid-size venues I've ever been too. Last time I was there I saw Radiohead play new tracks from their yet-to-be-released album. There's really not a bad seat in the house:
The worst thing I can write about the Greek Theater is that it happens to be in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the worst god damn crowds on the fucking planet. The most a performer could hope for from a Los Angeles audience is that people will stay off their phones, kind of nod their heads and maybe sway a little.
Even if you manage to find someone that manages to get fired-up, he still gets it wrong because he's from Los Angeles. Like this useless dildo:
He whistled like that from the second the Beasties took the stage until the end. Who was he trying to help? The band? Us? He was a loud asshole with a stupid smile. My left ear is still ringing. As his nonsense dragged on, the woman he came with glanced around nervously. I looked right at her and smiled sympathetically. It wasn't her fault. Hopefully she didn't delete her Match.com profile. Poor gal's going to need it.
Adrock knew what he was dealing with early on. He told the Greek it couldn't hurt to dance if they felt like it. Nobody was going to make fun of anybody for enjoying themselves he assured the crowd. He knew exactly what city he was playing. The Beasties played a great show even if LA sucked for them.
The idiot in front of me snuck through security with a bottle of water in her purse. She took a sip, and put it back in her purse...without the cap. Luckily for her, most of it went straight through her oddly pourous bag right onto me. She was very apologetic. Too apologetic. I just wanted to watch the show and let my wet crotch air dry. Becuase this was Los Angeles, she had no problem turning her back to the stage to chat for most of Super Disco Breaking.
Fortunately, not even live music's most worst crowd could ruin the Beastie Boys' night. Here's "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" live from the Greek:
Here's the full set list for 8-19-07 from a set list nerd at the Beasties boards:
Time for Living
Remote Control
Live at PJ's
Off the Grid
Root Down
Triple Trouble
Sure Shot
Shake Your Rump
Electric Worm
Sabrosa
Gratitude
Tough Guy
Super Disco Breaking
Pass the Mic
Body Movin'
Brass Monkey
B for My Name
Shambala
Lighten Up
Egg Raid on Mojo
3 MCs and 1 DJ
No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Ch-Check It Out
So What'cha Want
Encore:
Mix Master Mic VS The Turntables
Intergalactic
Heart Attack Man
Sabotage
The Boys needed a mulligan a couple of times, they had fun the whole time, even when they fucked up and had to restart a song. It was charming. Not like when I saw Elliot Smith stop every song twice while he was high on horse tranquilizers.
I had caught them twice before, once with DJ Hurricane and once with Mix Master Mike. As always, they played the hits and they played their instruments. In the end, Los Angeles threw everything they had into it: loud retarded whistling, cell phones, loud stupid talking and even a purse filled with water. It wasn't enough -- it was still a great show.
The Boys are on tour until October if you want to get on it.
Gerry thinks Paul's Boutique is one of the finest albums of all time.
UCLA Powers Up on Ethnicity
Is it depressing to anyone else that the subject of minorities going to a state college is apparently so newsworthy and such a big deal that it winds up on the front page of LA Times online? And yet, here it is, because the percentage of black students who plan to attend UCLA this coming fall has skyrocketed to 4.5%, double the percentage of this year's freshman class at a measly 2.2%.
UCLA's acting chancellor, Norman Abrams, said he was pleased with the increase. He thanked alumni and current students for raising scholarship donations and sponsoring recruiting events to woo blacks, who were accepted to the school but were wavering over enrolling.
Abrams insisted that all was done without violating Proposition 209, the voter-approved state initiative that bans the use of race in university admissions.
"I think we got the message out that we are a welcoming environment and that we have this great legacy and tradition with regard to African American students," Abrams said, referring to such illustrious black alumni as former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ralph Bunche.
I had the privilege of attending one of those "very special admit day" recruiting events as an incoming freshman at UCSD, back when they were trying to bump up their black and Latino demographic from a combined 11%; it mostly consisted of seminars on how to deflect all your relatives going "What, you think you're better than us now?!" and then a free dinner and some chill-out time in the dorms. It was kind of weird and uncomfortable, but I guess not altogether invalid and it must work on some level. I would still hazard a guess that the scholarship donations work better, because ethnic pandering does tend to turn a lot of people off.
Even with the new scholarships, UCLA obviously did not win all the accepted black students. For example, Courtney Porter, a Carson resident who attends the King/Drew Medical Magnet High School, chose UC Berkeley, she said, partly because of its northern California location and partly because she felt more genuinely welcomed there.
"I had a feeling that UCLA was desperate for African American students and recruiting me more just to get their numbers up," she said.
The tricky part of all this is that schools are trying to broaden their diversity while still falling inside the lines of Proposition 209, which is this fun thing Californians voted for a few years back that led to "blind admissions" process. You see, a lot of people like to believe that all children have equal potential and only differing motivation; this is possibly somewhat true in theory, but once you add in equal access to study guides and AP tests and outside reading and Kaplan test-prep tutoring and all the free time to devote to such when you're not out working a job to help support your family, the theory becomes a little less rooted in reality. Apparently school officials are starting to realize that a little bit, because now it seems they are scrambling to gerrymander the importance of "life experience" (i.e. socioeconomics) without getting too politically incorrect.
Asian Americans will make up the largest ethnic share of the class, as they have for several years: an expected 1,854 freshmen, or 41.2% of the U.S. students, a drop from 44.6% last year. White enrollment is expected to be 1,481, or 32.9 %, compared to 32.1% last year. The number of Latino freshmen is up slightly, to 657, representing 14.6%, compared to 13.9% last year.
Officials attributed some of those changes to a more "holistic" admissions process this year in which applicants' grades and test scores were reviewed more fully in context of their life experiences and achievements. UC leaders say that process was race-blind.
Former UC Regent Ward Connerly, the conservative architect of Proposition 209, said the new scholarship effort did not break the law. "Certainly, if people privately want to offer scholarships, that's their business and I have no problem with them using their money however they see fit."
But he said he suspected the application review process that looks at students' non-academic record was unequally applied in some cases to blacks and Latinos versus whites and Asians. "I wish I weren't suspicious," said Connerly, who is chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, based in Sacramento.
It's a tough situation all around. Nobody who goes to UC schools has any false pretenses about their ethnic make-up, and to be frank, why shouldn't life experiences be given equal weight to grades and test scores? Even Ivy League schools are finding out that numbers aren't everything.
Really though, I'm just looking forward to a day when we can look at ethnicity demographics at universities and legitimately roll eyes and say, "how is this news?" At 4.5%, I don't think it's quite there yet.
Los Angeles Aflame: Progressions and Progress Thus Far
I was really excited when Arnold Schwarzenegger became the governor of California back in 2003 -- not because of his politics, but because (a.) nothing is as sweet as having The Terminator's signature on your college diploma, and (b.) I knew that he would work hard to make our state the very best ACTION STATE in the union. So far he has not let us down: since his inauguration, it's been nothing but earthquakes and mudslides and floods and more earthquakes and the biggest fucking fire in Southern California history (that last one practically inches away from my face).
So you may have heard about the latest installment to come barreling out of what I like to call "Operation: Constant State of Action!": on Tuesday afternoon, flames went up in Griffith Park, one of the most famous and historical areas of Los Angeles.
Firefighters struggled Tuesday night to contain wind-whipped flames that scorched hundreds of acres in Griffith Park, forced the evacuation of some of Los Angeles' best-known landmarks and raced toward hillside homes in Los Feliz, prompting a hasty evacuation...
The Observatory, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles Zoo, Travel Town and Museum of the American West, as well as nearby golf courses, a magnet school and boys camp were evacuated Tuesday afternoon as firefighters dealt with erratic winds and bone-dry brush that has received less than 4 inches of rain in the last year.
They were hoping for rain, or at least for moist air, but we're in Southern California and it's not February anymore, so survey says hot winds aplenty, which pushed the fire further south into the Hollywood Hills. By 10PM, three hundred people had to be evacuated (including some of our own), and there was no containment in sight.
If Griffith Park Observatory and the Greek go up, it will be extremely depressing, but the most concerning thing right now is the state of the Los Angeles Zoo, which is also in the path of potential mayhem. Thankfully all the animals (and the zookeepers who have stayed on site to take care of them) are doing fine so far. Apparently they are down with a little non-screaming-children action every now and then.
With a veil of smoke visible in the hills, zoo staffers said Wednesday that animals were calm and seemingly unbothered by the faint smell of smoke wafting on the breeze...."Even along the edges" of the zoo, principal keeper Jeff Briscoe said, "the animals seem oblivious." Briscoe, who stayed at the zoo until 3 a.m. Wednesday, checked on the zoo's two high-profile elephants through the night. "They're fine. They're not even aware of it," he said.
There was one thing unusual at the zoo, however: It was closed to the public, as were all access roads. So with the zoo devoid of noisy patrons and screaming children, animals luxuriated in the quiet.
A chimpanzee toting an onion strolled across its exhibit, past a rushing waterfall that drowned out the thud-thud-thud of a helicopter overhead. A bachelor herd of Nubian ibexes monitored the zoo scene from a high rock ledge while two gerenuks in another exhibit propped their slender legs up on a tree to browse... Billy, the zoo's bull elephant, flipped a trunkful of dirt over his head onto his back to cool himself.
Excellent. I hope things continue that way, and it seems like they might. As of this morning, thanks to the fine airborne precision work of the LAFD, combined with that cooler ocean air finally pulling through, the 800-plus-acre fire is said to be 75% contained.
The 817-acre Griffith Park fire has been largely extinguished but the blaze is not expected to be fully contained until tonight, and the city's largest park and its major attractions -- including the zoo and observatory -- remained closed today, officials said.
Firefighters, aided by a cool and damp marine layer, have contained about 75% of the blaze, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Kelley said this morning. Full containment, in the form of a 100-foot wide perimeter, is expected by about 6 p.m. today.
So that's relatively good news. As far as determining what exactly caused the fire, and whether or not it was charge-pressable arson, the investigation continues. There was some suspicion at first involving a certain sleepy golfer, but the police seem to have let that one go.
Fire investigators remained interested in a man who was found with burns on a park golf course as the possible source of the fire, authorities said. But police Sgt. Lee Sands said the department was finished questioning the man and did not consider him a "person of interest."
The man, in his early 20s, suffered second- and third-degree burns to his upper torso. David Schaefer, a Fire Department paramedic who treated him, said the man told him he fell asleep while smoking a cigarette and woke up with his shirt on fire.
"At this point there's no indication that it was anything but an accident," said Battalion Chief John Miller, who oversees arson investigations.
And so it goes, for now. The LA Times has a running blog with breaking news on the subject, if you're interested in reading more. Cross your fingers that by tonight there won't be much more to report besides the cleaning-up and the aftermath.
Then we can move on to whatever disaster-movie-in-the-making our awesome state has in store for us next.
Worlds Greatest Tagger
The Santee Education Complex opened in July 2005 and was expected to be a model for future schools in Los Angeles but gang violence, social problems and academic failure crushed the dream. The endless gang activity around the school caused students to pass on after-school activities. One glaring problem was the two-block walk students had to survive to catch a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus.
Tired of being robbed, thirty students rallied together and asked for a bus stop closer to campus. Their request went all the way up to the mayor, who brought in the MTA. It was decided a bus stop would be added behind the school, so students would not have to walk the crime gauntlet.
On Monday, Mayor Villaraigosa and other backslapping politicians rode the inaugural trip to the new stop. They had come up with a genius plan they MOVED a bus stop closer to a school. So, why shouldnt they celebrate this crowning achievement and incredible victory against crime?
But the party didnt last too long. While the mayor smiled for the many cameras on the bus, a student ran up and tagged a window. It was clearly a cry for help.
"It's a cry out for help," said Vince Carbino, Santee's principal. He said he will meet with the youth, together with one of the school's social workers, to "help the student and get him on the right track."
Yesterday officials apprehended the criminal, a 15-year-old student nicknamed Zoner. Apparently Zoner didnt realize the bus was full of self-congratulating politicians. When he realized his error he hid his face and stopped tagging the bus, but not before a beautiful photo was taken.
Zoner is now facing a misdemeanor charge of vandalism. But in the real world of high school popularity, Zoner is the king.
Students Tuesday were "glorifying" the tagger. "They were saying, that's my homie, that's my homie.' "
Nay, he's America's homie.
Famed L.A. Club To Launch Record Label
Famed* Los Angeles Club Spaceland is officially launching its Spaceland Recordings, the record label it quietly started last summer. The label will offer live recordings of up-and-coming bands recorded at the venue and its sister-clubs, The Echo and Ex-Plex.
President of Spaceland Productions Mitchell Frank spoke to NME about the labels concept.
"Spaceland Recordings gives us the opportunity to introduce fans to cool bands way before the curve and allow the entire world to hear them as local LA music fans first heard and saw them at Spaceland -- live on stage.
"When Spaceland started in 1995, I always had this vision of recording special concerts, like the first Beck show with his band or the first Elliott Smith solo show."
So far, the label has rolled out top-quality live discs by hottly-tipped artists such as Asobi Seksu, Darker My Love, and Thunder Birds Are Now!, among others. There are several releases in the pipeline for 2007.
(*Its famed, basically, because its one of the only decent places to play in L.A. ED.)
Recommended Viewing:
A clip of The White Stripes playing at Spaceland, circa 2001.
Circle Jerks: Spewing Anarchy All Over Your Face
Sounds delicious doesn't it? Well, you heard it right, the Circle Jerks are at it again. They're going on tour, bringing their punk rock anarchy to the masses. And you thought you'd never get a chance to see them. Come on, Keith Morris will never give up. Hes going to swing his gnarly dreads right into your face and demand that you pay attention and open your eyes.
Here's info for the tour with punk rock bands like The Applicators and The Lower Class Brats:
Nov 30 2006 8:00P
The Gypsy Tea Room 17+ Dallas, Texas
Dec 1 2006 1:00P
The Fun Fun Fun Fest @ Waterloo Park/All Ages Austin, Texas
Dec 2 2006 7:00P
White Rabbit/All Ages San Antonio, Texas
Dec 3 2006 7:00P
Warehouse Live/All Ages Houston, Texas
Dec 5 2006 7:00P
The Beta Bar/All Ages Tallahassee, Florida
Dec 7 2006 7:00P
Fuel/All Ages Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 8 2006 7:00P
State Theatre/All Ages St. Petersburg, Florida
Dec 9 2006 7:30P
Respectable Street/All Ages West Palm Beach, Florida
Dec 10 2006 7:00P
The Backbooth/All Ages Orlando, Florida
Dec 12 2006 7:00P
The Masquerade/All Ages Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 13 2006 8:00P
City Hall/All Ages Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 27 2007 6:00P
House Of Blues/21+ San Diego, California
Jan 28 2007 7:00P
House Of Blues/All Ages San Diego, California
Jan 29 2007 7:00P
House Of Blues/All Ages West Hollywood, California
Feb 2 2007 6:00P
House Of Blues/All Ages Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb 5 2007 7:00P
House Of Blues/All Ages Anaheim, California
Look at how cute they were! Now go buy their albums and check them out live!
Al Qaeda Launches Bio-Attack On The Homeless
Skid row in Los Angeles is being hit by a fierce staph infection epidemic. The signs that this is an Al Qaeda attack are all there. First, the infection is vicious and relentless, overcoming antibiotics to maim and even kill victims. Second, it flies below the radar because health officials do not keep track of staph cases. Third, local police and firefighters are dropping like flies. Fourth, it is very, very bad. The only way to stop this infection is to vote Republican.
Al Qaeda tries to come out through an arm
Where did it come from? When did it begin? Los Angeles doctor, Gregory Moran talked about the origin of the horrible infection.
It is now the single most common cause of skin infections, which is remarkable, because five years ago it was close to zero.
A little incident called 9/11 happened five years ago. Coincidence? I dont think so. The west coast attack has just been slower but is finally picking up speed. What is happening in LA is a terrorists dream.
In 2005, staph infections hit at least 20 Los Angeles city firefighters, many of whom work on Skid Row. A staph infection landed a deputy city attorney, who works out of the Central Division police station, in the hospital for two weeks. An LAPD helicopter pilot, who helped a homeless man across the street, almost had to have his leg amputated.
Staph is passed through touch, shared surfaces and personal items. It can survive on clothes or bedding for five days. It comes on quickly and is very painful. While most cases can easily be treated with antibiotics, rare instances can cause blood, bone and lung infections. Currently the county of Los Angeles does not have the money to monitor cases, because they are so widespread. Good-bye, America.
Please God, let that be an alien
The infection spreads quickly, like an infection. In November 2004 a city attorney hugged a homeless person. (Probably an Al Qaeda agent) Within four days, the lawyer noticed a small sore on the back of her neck. That was only the beginning.
Her doctor told her it was a spider bite and put her on antibiotics. The infection didnt go away. She went back to the doctor, who prescribed another medication. By February, abscesses had formed under her arm, groin and toe. Her neck wound grew to the size of a tennis ball. A culture sample revealed Skid Row staph. She was immediately admitted to the hospital, where she had vancomycin, the highly potent antibiotic, directly pumped into her chest.
The local cops of LAPDs Central Division are taking the enemy seriously, as several of their own have been struck down. Officers get monthly training on avoiding staph and they will all be asked to wash their hands with industrial sanitizer when they enter the station. Wooden benches will be replaced with stainless steel, so they can be disinfected. Hopefully it will be enough to protect them from this latest Al Qaeda attack, because we know the Democrats wont. LA is a Democratic hotbed and look at what their leadership has produced. If Republicans lose control of Congress on November 7th, how many other cities will be hit by this hateful infection?
Best of LA
Sometimes we forget to enjoy our own environment. So whether you live in Los Angeles or you're just planning a visit, LA Weekly's Best of LA can help you out. Especially if you're looking for any of these:
Best Human Skulls and Taxidermy Animal Bones
Best Place to Find a Dead Clown
Best Remnants of Hardboiled LA
LA Weekly
Conversation with Felt Club
Felt Club is a small-scale craft show that throws down in Los Angeles on a monthly basis. Remember? The next one is coming up this Sunday, October 8th at the Echo. But wait!
For those who interested in shopping around the holidays, participating in a future Felt Club event, or just being part of what is sure to be a spectacular event, Felt Club has recently announced plans for an XL HOLIDAY show. Applications to participate in the December 9th event are due October 16. However, even if you don't craft, there are tons of ways to get involved. I chatted a bit with Jenny Ryan, creator of Felt Club, to find out more about the show, what will make the December event "XL", and how SG readers can be a part of it all.
SUSIE GHAHREMANI: What distinguishes the XL HOLIDAY show different from other Felt Club events?
FELT CLUB: Basically, we're doing the same show but on a much larger scale, with almost 3x the amount of vendors. Crafters really pull out all the stops when it comes to making stuff around the holidays, so if people think the wares at our monthly events are super rad, the stuff we'll be exhibiting at the XL Holiday show will be, like, super-spectacularly rad to the EXTREME! We're also encouraging more comic artist/illustator peeps to apply and have been really pleased with the results.
SG: What are some of the other planned festivities for the show besides the craft sales?
FC: We've got a full kitchen this time, which will be serving up delish treats from a fab local eatery (soon to be revealed), a chill-out lounge area staffed by crafty elves who will teach you to knit or decorate Xmas stockings with you, plus we're handing out swag bags full of free magazines, coupons, and small goodies from various local businesses. Music will be provided by DJs Dirty Robot and Lance Rock, and we'll be raffling off various prizes throughout the day (proceeds will benefit the gals behind the Indie Craft Documentary project.) CRAFT magazine will also have a presence, which should be a lot of fun.
Photo Location
SG: How else can SG readers get involved in the show?
FC: Excellent question! We will be needing plenty of volunteers to help with everything from set-up to flyering to swag bag distribution, etc. Anyone interested in helping out should e-mail me at volunteer@feltclub.com and get ready to bask in the undying gratitude that is sure to follow. Even if you can't volunteer, helping us spread the word is totally appreciated. The first rule of Felt Club is PLEASE talk about Felt Club!
SG: Tell us a secret about the holiday show!
FC: Ooh, secrets! Well, don't tell anyone you heard it here...but there may just be a giant anthropomorphic bottle of glue attending our event. No, really! You'll just have to show up and see it for yourself.
Lotsa Museums Free in L.A. Tomorrow
This Sunday, October 1st in the Los Angeles area, twenty museums have agreed to open the doors to the public free of charge. Take advantage of this, Southern Californians; while there are some museums that are always free (such as the Getty), most are not.
The participating museums in the day event include:
Armory Center for the Arts
Autry National Center's Museum of the American West
California Heritage Museum
California Science Center
Craft and Folk Art Museum
Fowler Museum at UCLA
The Getty Center
Hammer Museum
Japanese American National Museum
Laguna Art Museum
Long Beach Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
The Museum of Television & Radio
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Museum of Tolerance
Norton Simon Museum
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
Pacific Asia Museum
Skirball Cultural Center
Southwest Museum of the American Indian.
More info and links to the participating museums are here.
Photo Location: Folk Art is Free Art on Oct. 1.
Banksy Recap and the Elephant in the Room
Last week saw the opening of enigmatic UK graffiti artist Banksy's living installation in Los Angeles, Barely Legal, the epicenter of which was in a mysterious warehouse in L.A. The location was announced the day of the opening and the show was only up for three days making it a bona-fide Happening and a chance for L.A. to briefly see what Banksy has up his sleeve. The show received a slew of visitors as well as a slew of criticism aimed at "the elephant in the room": one of Banksy's pieces, quite literally a live, captive elephant painted to blend in with the wallpaper.
Photo Location: and more to the story
Way to be an ele-friend, Banksy. The artist was petitioned to remove the paint and th elephant Tai was scrubbed down for the remainder of the show as of Sunday.
Tongue-in-cheek, political and absurd, here are a few pieces and links to the respective blogs that captured them:
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Photo Location: "The red phone booth from Banksys show made a brief 'illegal' appearance on the streets of downtown
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See more aftermath in the Banksy Flickr group.
LA.com Reviews Loos
Offering everything from exotic plants in the stalls to stagnant water on the floor, the restrooms of Los Angeles are a varied bunch. Some are perfect for a midnight rendezvous, while others are just vile 24/7. Check out this list of which is which so you don't end up with crabs. It can happen.
Conversation with Lesley Reppeteaux
Lesley Reppeteaux is a Paris based painter, curator, and comic book artist for Slave Labor Graphics. Her feminine work is a realization of an imagined world of female protagonists, like a mix between underwater fairy tales and an Art Nouveau, vaudevillian underworld.
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SG: Lesley, what's your background and what have you been up to all your life?
LR: I've pretty much been drawing and painting since I was a wee Lesley. I was born in Nova Scotia, Canada and then my fam moved to Las Vegas when I was a teen. I was lucky enough to have a public Art Academy open up right when I was in 10th grade, so I was saved from a normal curriculum early in life.
After highschool I went to RMCAD (Rocky Mountain School of Art and Design) in Denver and studied Illustration - from there my hubs and I moved to Los Angeles. For the last few years I have been focusing on my painting and working in comics (I write and draw the series Outlook: Grim and Screwtooth both on the label Slave Labor Graphics.)
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Last week, we moved yet again for more adventures. Now we are living in Paris and soakin' up the beauty and fromage of France. I move a lot.
SG: Yay, Francophiles! So, tell me a little bit about the materials, scale and statement of your work.
LR: I work with Acyrlic paint on wood that I cut out to make interesting shapes. The biggest pieces I have done are 15 -20 foot murals, where the smallest is about an inch or two, I would guess. Normally I'm in the 2 - 3 foot range. Most importantly, [regarding my mission as an artist] I want my work to inspire the wonder of storytelling and to strike a balance between the lovely and bizarre.
SG: What is the most important aspect of making art for you?
LR: There are so many important parts to it. The indefinable reasons, the process, the details, the obsession of painting, the need to weave a tale.
SG: What inspires your work?
LR: Hmmm...music, literature, history, observing life and human/animal nature, fiction and fact, tidbits of this and that.
SG: What do you do when you feel drained of ideas/inspiration?
LR: I move.
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SG: What's your favorite texture?
LR: My husband's hairy belly.
SG: What is your guilty pleasure?
LR: Chocolate and coffee - the heavenly cocoa bean.
SG: What's next for you and your work?
LR: Lots of exciting things down the pipe. I've designed a hoodie for an amazing artist-driven clothing company that should be out this fall. In December will be my 6-person group show at La Luz de Jesus in Hollywood followed by Solo shows at ThinkSpace Gallery in Silverlake and M Modern in Palm Springs. Mostly, fun stuff ahead. And more moving.
This interview was conducted by boygirlpartay, a painter and proprietor of website boygirlparty.com. She too moves a lot and is currently in Paris.
Art Prostitute 08 Release Party
Art Prostitute is a cutting-edge and underground art full color magazine. Tonight, they're celebrating their 8th issue with an arty party at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles.
The events kick off at 6pm; Merry Karnowsky Gallery is located at 170 S. La Brea Ave. Arrive early to pick up a copy of the latest issue since fans will be clamoring at the 100 issues available at the release. Those missing out can pre-order a copy of the latest here. Issue 08 features artwork, interviews and 15" flat prints by Mark Ryden, Richard Colman, SWOON, and Erick Swenson.
Post Deux Party
Last night's Post Deux opening at GR2 was an enormous success with an overwhelming turnout in both audience and artwork. Roughly 1200 Post-It notes lined the walls of GR2. The gallery was packed; a line formed in the store of people waiting to purchase a Post-It work of art (starting at 5¢, most priced around $20, the line was already at 135 people waiting by the time I got to take a number, deli-style.)
Here is a photo of the installation in process, taken by the curators:
And a video from Eric Nakamura's blog:
The show runs through the month at L.A.'s GR2 with still hundreds of amazing works on Post-Its available.
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The Summer Before I Left New York
Fellow culture editor PeoplePaula recently did a wonderful write-up on the last of the Sundown Salons in Los Angeles, and the photographs in the article not only showed a salon in progress, but also the results of a stunning installation titled The Summer Before I Left New York by UCSD student Kate Wall.
The geodesic dome itself was the site for the installation in which the artist painted a fragmented interpretation of New York in shades of blue, matched direct from daily photographs of the city's skyline over the three months of 2005's summer. Each segment of the geodesic dome is carefully labeled with the corresponding date of the photograph from which the blue was derived.
Her installation is not only still available for view on site at Fritz Haeg's space, but also appeared in shows such as Where at the Queen's Nails Annex in San Francisco in the form of documentary photographs and installation of the remaining paint cans.
Kate Wall is currently working toward her MFA at UCSD's Visual Arts program and holds a BA from the Rhode Island School of Design. All photographs appear courtesy of the artist.
