Hey little gothlets & rivetheads. I haz a happy surprize fer youse.

We got wind of a VNV Nation record release show tonight at Club Nokia. It’s free with a ticket to Saturday night’s VNV Nation show (or your order confirmation) and you slobbering VNV fans can hear the record before anyone else that night at the venue. Ronan, the oddly-exuberant-for-a-goth-rock-hero lead singer, is going to Skype into the party to join in for a discussion. Good times. They’ll also be giving away meet-and-greet passes and VIP passes to the Saturday night show every 30 minutes.

Go here for more info.

Cirque Berzerk‘s “Beneath” opened to thunderous applause and a TMZ-worthy star-studded crowd Thursday night under the big top at Los Angeles State Historic Park (aka “The Cornfield.”)

Cirque Berzerk is an updated version of a circus from long ago. You’ll find many of your favorite acts. Contortionists, acrobats, aerialists and punk rock clowns among others, but this show offers so much more. Cirque Berzerk may be a circus at its heart, but it is also a dark cabaret with burlesque dancers and a touch of modern vaudville. The show’s original music, composed by Cirque Berzerk co-creator Kevin Bourque, is performed live on stage

The show is wildly entertaining and at times astounding. There is much laughter, but more often than not I found myself lifting my jaw from the floor, where it had fallen in astonishment. By the end of the show I wanted nothing more than to run away with the circus

Follow me into the next dimension for more photos, video, and how you can experience this spectacle for yourself.

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A few years ago my friend Jason Mojica and some of his friends had a wild idea and ended up traveling to Darfur to make a movie they hoped would help fix the situation there. It turned out not to be that simple, but they made the movie none the less. The finished it at the end of last year and rather than shopping it around to distributors opted to post it online so anyone who wanted to see it could. Shortly after that I traveled to Washington DC and interviewed Jason for BoingBoing and he told me much more about how it all played out. (You can watch that clip by simply clicking play on the big image at the top of this post).

This week Jim Milak, G. Ryan Faith, and Jason Mojica, the three guys who actually made the film, are here in LA and have teamed up with the Mandrake in Culver City to have a screening tonight. What better place than a bar for a showing of a movie like this right? If you want to come, it’s free and open to the (of legal age) public, I’ll be there and am really looking forwarded to watching this on something other than a laptop screen.

The screening starts at 7pm, the Mandrake is at 2692 S La Cienega Blvd (between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd) and if you feel like it you can RSVP at this facebook event page.

More restaurants need sawdust floors

Being only a first-time attendee, I cannot quite say exactly what Mindshare LA is, but I’m sure it is something I want to go back to for future monthly events.  Mindshare advertises itself–beyond with the “enlightened debauchery” slogan–as “an evening of inspiration and interaction in Downtown LA.” (on the third Thursday of each month).  It’s a mixture of a trance club, a museum, and a lecture series.  Perhaps its program of past events gives my dear readers a sense.  Think of it as “TED light”, or maybe Wired Magazine with dancing.  A short talk I enjoyed, for example, was A Short History of Hollywood’s Genitalia Coverups.

I was taken to this event by my lovely Virgil, with whom I had the pleasure of visiting for the first time the nearby Philippe’s Restaurant.  Philippe’s is one of two Los Angeles restaurants claiming to have originated the french dip sandwich.  Whatever  exegetic judgment one might make of the competing claims of Philippe’s and Cole’s, we figured the visit was of fair historical value.  A diner simply has to love any restaurant with the good graces of sprinkling sawdust on its floor.  Who ever claimed Los Angeles wasn’t the deep south?

Mindshare itself is currently held at The Firehouse at Santa Fe and E 7th, one of those hipster industrial zones that proudly proclaim their artistic credentials once properly reutilized.  This space, I understand from speaking with organizers and attendees at the event, is the expanded space after attendance grew past 300 and outgrew previous spaces.  Future events may or may not be here, but by all means sign up for their mailing list to find out future schedules.

Memento mori

In keeping with the fact that this bumper sticker was found on a Prius, we might expect the moral being conveyed is that one brings about death by unsafely talking on a cell phone while driving.  Of course, with Obama’s admirable push for increased fuel efficiency in automobiles, hybrid cars will probably no longer carry quite the ethical cache they have for the last few years (heck, some American car maker might actually, finally, start making the damn things).

I prefer just to read the sticker as indicating that the driver on board is in a conversation with death (aren’t we all).  Sort of Max von Sydow leaving the set of The Seventh Seal and heading on up to a goth party in Hollywood.

BSG @ California Plaza

Last weekend, Bear McCreary opened the  2009 Grand Performances series with The Music of Battlestar Galactica. I’ve seen the talented composer conduct his unforgettable score live on a couple of other occasions. Every concert has been fantastic, but this most recent one really blew me away. From the gorgeous outdoor setting, complete with water features, in downtown L.A. to Katee Sackhoff joining McCreary on the piano for the opening bit to his version of  “All Along The Watchtower,” it was a pretty magical evening. A good friend of mine got permission to videotape the entire show and is in the process of posting the footage, which you can see here. Check out the “…Watchtower” clip below.

I hope to go back for more of this summer’s Grand Performances. I found California Plaza to be a beautiful, unique venue under the stars that I’d love to revisit. The weekly event runs through the end of August with one show in each September and October. The concert days and times vary each week, so check the calendar for specific details. Another important thing to note is that all of the performances are free!

The address for parking is 351 S. Olive in downtown Los Angeles. I found it quite convenient to take the Metro Red Line to Pershing Square and walk the one block to the plaza.

Conspiracy theorists are saying that the Loch Ness Monster has swum halfway around the world and has landed in the Marina del Rey Channel. The more rational among us say that a 20-foot California grey whale is making a pit stop in my backyard. The experts assert that Wally the Whale (I saw him, I get to name him) is probably migrating from Mexico to Alaska.

More pix, after the jump

The LA Times has just released information from their latest poll conducted in Los Angeles about same-sex marriage.

Overall in the city, 56% support the right of same-sex couples to marry while 37% oppose it.

Broken down further into racial and ethnic groups, among whites, 68% support same-sex marriage and 27% oppose it; among blacks, 37% support it while 54% oppose it; and among Latinos, 45% support it and 46% oppose.

Antebellum Gallery, the Hollywood fetish gallery owned by photographer-director Rick Castro, has entered the blogosphere. Surprise-surprise, it’s for adults only.

Keeping track of sexuality (and sex) in all of its permutations as it is represented in popular and fringe culture, Castro’s blog might just be a perfect addition for the enlightened age that Obama’s presidency seems to be struggling to usher in. (Now if Obama would just grow a pair.)

Recent posts have been about the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 list of honorees who will receive stars on The Walk of Fame, this Sunday’s celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Tom of Finland Foundation at Faultline Bar and reaction to the latest sexually-charged Calvin Klein ad campaign.

My favorite post so far: One Straight Guy’s View of Bisexuality– a video by Minneapolis Youtube star Rocci Berrini, who espouses about topics of the day from a slacker’s POV.  And his seemingly clueless, common-sense, pro-gay marriage stance is actually one of the best (and funniest) arguments yet against the right’s clueless bigotry. Fight fire with fire, I say.

At least she is nicer about it than say…the one Will found the other day.

I grabbed it with the trusty cell cam, it does embiggen with a quick click.

You know what is awesome? Picnics. You know what else is awesome? State parks. You know what sucks? Losing those state parks because of some jerks bad financial decisions. This Saturday some of us will be having a picnic in Will Rogers State Park, while we can still call it that. The picnic will actually be rallying for two issues…

1) Protesting Arnold’s suggestion to remove funding for State Parks which means many would be shut down including Will Rogers where the picnic is being held.

2) Protesting Arnold’s suggestion to remove the required time that animals are held in shelters from 6 days to 3 days and the funds to supplement the shelters to do this. Volunteer organizations today already scramble to find homes for pets, and this is going to mean more animals are euthanized. Imagine a lost pet getting euthanized b/c he lost his tags and is not chipped!

Want to join us? Please do! RSVP on this Facebook event page or just meet us around noon at the Picnic Area. Look for the gigantic Hello Kitty Pinata.

Just got word via texts and emails that the cold chill of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raided the Angel Toy Factory downtown and possibly another nearby location earlier today.  What of it, Obama?

The details aren’t clear just yet – any one of you readers have more information? – but everyone seems to agree that a number of workers were arrested and are being detained at least one local detention center.  A rally apparently is forming in the area – I’ll update if I receive more details.  In the meantime, if you happen to get caught in an immigration raid, know your rights: handy guides here and here.  Think you don’t need to know becauase you’re a red blooded Amer-i-can?  Think again.

We here at Metblogs are all about community gardening.  Take that mentality just a teeny step further and you have Food Forward, a local, volunteer-based group that aims to alleviate urban hunger by gathering fruits (with permission) from private property owners lucky enough to have fruit trees smiling in their backyards.  The bounties are then donated to various food pantries, most notably  the SOVA Community Food and Service Program.  While they pick at various small properties throughout the region (“Mini Picks”) each month,  Food Forward’s major event is the Big Pick which, as you can imagine, is the Pickiest of the Picks.  The first Big Pick a few months ago yielded almost 5,000 pounds (5,000 pounds!) of sweet Valencia oranges.  Sunday, June 28 is the next Big Pick, and Food Forward is welcoming volunteers to help pick excess oranges from the enormous 6 acre orange grove on the Cal State Northridge campus.  There are ample volunteers for the morning session, but a few spots in the afternoon (1-4pm) remain.  Best part is that the afternoon session is open to families and children (kids under the tween age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult).  That’s right, bring your kids, expose them to fact that fruit grows on trees, and teach each other proper picking practices.  You never know when your newfound picking skillz will come in handy.

Email your RSVP for the Big Pick to Rick Nahmias, Food Forward’s founder, at info@foodforward.org.  You also can leave a message with Food Forward at (818) 530-4125 – be sure to include your name, email addy, age, and phone number.

Hat tip to Pasadena PIO blogger  Ann Erdman for the info and LINK she posted to the announcement that American Idol auditions are set to take place at the Rose Bowl Monday June 30.   Pre-registration must be done and will also take place there on June 28 and June 29.

When I told my youngest the news he commented “great we can try out”.  I responded, “Sure I can be one of those no-talent ones they make fun of, repeatedly during the season”.

My little snark…with everyone knowing that the “Rose Bowl” is in Pasadena, why does AI discuss it on the show as an “LA Audition”?  Just asking…