My skates are cooler than yours

This Thursday night, while you’re reheating that tired macaroni and cheese and making love to your sofa, I’ll be painting on my lycra disco pants and tube top for Down and Derby.

For one night only, The Echoplex will be transformed into a 1970s roller disco featuring multiple DJs and tons of casual making out. Well, that last part I can’t guarantee, but *fingers crossed!*

You can bring your own skates (mine pictured here) or some will be available to rent for $5. For half-off the cover charge, RSVP at downandderby.org.

There is quite a bit of buzz about a one woman show that opened on May 15th called Catwalk.  It’s the true story of a former model as told by the woman herself.

Robyn Peterson’s account of the precocious rise of a 16 year old model to the runways of high fashion and Parisian couture of the `70′s, working with such design icons as Yves St. Laurent, Charles Jourdan, Karl Lagerfeld, and photographer Helmut Newton, has now been adapted for the stage and receives its world premiere production this May/June at Sidewalk Studio Theatre, immediately afterward transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival courtesy of SST Productions.

The production runs until June 20th on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm with one Sunday matinee on June 7th at 2pm.  Reserve tickets by calling (818) 558-5702 or go here.

Images courtesy of Da Bun & LADead

Images courtesy of Da Bun & LADead

The cherry blossom is an enchantingly beautiful flower with a very short lifespan, particularly in wind and heat.  And for that distinction, it’s brief existence is celebrated as well as considered metaphor for the human condition.  

The Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri) is a Japanese ritual that dates back to 794 and is something they stole from China during a period of trying to emulate Chinese culture.  In modern times, many countries hold festivals in honor of the delicate blossom. 

This past year Ruin at the Monte Cristo held a darker take on Sakura Matsuri on April 3rd – a day before the peak of blooming. Denizens of Los Angeles came decked out in their Asian-inspired finest to dance, preen and partake of libations.  It was a lovely evening with plenty of imaginative eye candy.

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I know I promised a post on My Bloody Valentine’s concert last night, but I just received word that Shawn Mortensen, the photographer responsible for some of the most iconic images of the 1990′s, has died.

The details are uncertain as of yet, but it is confirmed that Mortensen has passed on. Sources close to him say that a memorial service will be held soon.

Mortensen was an instigator and a scribe of the 90′s art, culture, and music movements. He photographed Snoop Dogg, when the gangsta rapper was only 19. He cataloged the Zapatista uprising, and introduced Rage Against the Machine to their struggle. He watched AIDS decimate the artist populations of NYC and LA.

In 2007, I met Mortensen. We chatted about his life and place at the epicenter of 90′s art and music. He was supposed to write an article for LA’s Flaunt magazine, where I worked at the time, about his life, but instead of an article, he gave me a 22 page stream of consciousness, impressionist brushstoke of his experiences. .. Read the rest of this entry →

@LAMetblogs Or would he, like @ghidorah76 and many others, find the fastest means to literary poverty is writing in 140 characters or less?

@LAMetblogs Do you think Bandini could get as many followers as @aplusk or @britneyspears or @johncmayer?

@LAMetblogs Imagine what Fante’s literary alter ego Arturo Bandini could have accomplished if only he had signed up for a Twitter account.

@LAMetblogs Wonder how many aspiring writers will be at the Fante event tonight? How many who just can’t resist that siren call of poverty?

@LAMetblogs 3 years ago, Slate ran a great piece on Fante when Towne’s adaptation of “Ask the Dust” hit theaters. http://tinyurl.com/d5dmnt

@LAMetblogs Fante was not recognized in his day. He’s barely recognized now. Charles Bukowski was a fan. Ditto for film scribe Robert Towne.

@LAMetblogs Fante’s work explored poverty, the immigrant experience, and the harsh reality that aspiring writers will face in our city.

@LAMetblogs Tomorrow is LA writer John Fante’s 100th birthday. Tonight, Zocalo at the Hammer will celebrate. http://tinyurl.com/d8lc8b

@LAMetblogs “So fuck you, Los Angeles, fuck your palm trees, and your highassed women, and your fancy streets, for I am going home.” – Fante

Image: Author John Fante and the Fail Whale.

A simulacrum of nothing much

One of the many horrors of L.A. architecture is certainly its over-presentation in movies and television. It is comically clichéd to see stories set in other cities, whose framing shots are the same Los Angeles “skyline” that even non-Angelenos have come to recognize as framing shots of every non-L.A. city that makes it onto filmic representation.  What makes this SoCal-centrism so much the worse is the underlying vacuity of buildings in Los Angeles.  Fredric Jameson, following Jean-François Lyotard, famously advanced the notion of postmodernism as pastiche, and Angelena intellectuals often paint the unthinking, seedy eclecticism of Los Angeles as advancing such post-modern ideals (or its anti-idealism, perhaps).

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Giant Robot Silverlake is closing March 28th so now is the time to check out their closing sale if you haven’t done so already.

The sale began on March 10 — originally 20% off and an additional 5% on already marked down items — but Giant Robot has announced that their sale is now 30% off storewide, with an additional 10% on sale merchandise.

4017 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles 90029
310 662 GRLA
Tue-Fri 11-7 pm
Sat-Sun 12-8 pm

Los Angeles is marked more than most cities, maybe more than any other city, by a locality of style. I’m not sure what happens if these locals drive (or walk!) between neighborhoods, but it seems that one can nearly pinpoint the block you are at just by looking at the outfits of pedestrians and passers-by. But then, it goes beyond garments, actually, pose and posture–most certainly facial expression–likewise modulates by quarter mile, fashinistas wired like pigeons with an internal magnetic GPS organ.

It would be interesting, I think, to try photographing people on blocks, and testing readers’ recognition of areas this way. The photos should not give away much of architecture, but I think we’d get surprisingly good success. For some future post, I hope.

For reasons I’m too ashamed to tell anyone outside of the deepest most inner circle of my friends, I can no longer show my face at my former hair salon and therefore must reluctantly begin the tiresome process of finding a new home for my hair. Silver Lake may be brimming with totally tantalizing eats, mega hip bars and the best in indie fashion, but one thing that seems to be lacking in my neighborhood is a wide selection of high quality, cutting edge hair salons.

Perhaps hair is the one area where the west side has us beat.

Having walked and scooted by Sugar Hair Salon in Silver Lake dozens of times, I randomly chose this beacon in blue and white as the first stop on my quest for maximum coiffage.

Adriana Rodriguez, co-owner of Sugar, greeted me and immediately began assessing my poorly shaped locks, which had become shamefully sloppy from mad neglect. While we discussed my hair preferences, my eyes were drawn to a giant wall of paintings and other media across the salon.

Adriana explained that the wall is part of a collection called, “100″ featuring 100 square feet of art, by 100 Los Angeles-based artists, all for under $100. How rad is that? Apparently, I missed the opening in late February, but the pieces will be on display in the salon through May 24, 2009. Read the rest of this entry →

Villaraigosa has a new Facebook app asking you to pledge allegiance to him. Behold:

It is not the fact that he claims to be “bringing us together,” or that he is “getting things done,” that bothers me most. Instead, it is the disturbing trend in political head shots featuring the coat over the shoulder. The one that says, “Hey, I’m just like you, voter. I’m taking off the tweed and rolling up the shirt sleeves to make this a better city.”

It should be noted that Antonio isn’t the first to channel his inner 80’s. Tom LaBonge of District 4 does it on his $25,000 website:

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Make up artist Robert Greene says he was asked by Bidoun, an art and culture magazine from the Middle East, to paint someone’s face to look like Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope poster. No word on whether AP lawyers have been sniffing around this one.

Confederacy, on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Feliz.

New shops, plus a rumor about Sunset Junction.

With the economy in a tail-spin, now may not be the time to consider high-end fashion boutiques in Los Angeles that are drifting eastward into Los Feliz and Silver Lake, but it has been happening ever since Lake opened on Rowena two years ago, bringing labels that previously were only seen further west in the city.

Confederacy, the boutique co-owned by an assortment of fashion, TV-actor, art and restaurant world players, opened on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Feliz last Fall in an ambitiously large space that I’ve only observed as mostly empty of customers. With a staff uniform by New York-based label Rag and Bone, a schedule of art exhibits along one wall ((currently, etchings by Julian Schnabel) and a stylist’s eye dictating the brands carried, all of the elements for success seem to be in place, on the inside of the shop, anyway. (The men’s wear is to die for.) What remains to be seen is if the outside world cooperates. When most stores had fire sale prices during the run-up to Christmas, Confederacy kept its price points high. Now the winter line is on sale, but much of it could be had in mid-November for a fraction of the price at stores like Barneys, Nordstrom, Saks and the like. Who wants it now with Spring looming? Read the rest of this entry →

I have been spending a great deal of time in Manhattan Beach for work purposes.  At first, I’d just get to my meetings and leave as soon as possible because the commute was so dreadful and I wanted to get it over with quickly.  But on my final two days I decided to be far more relaxed and actually take in the admittedly darling little ocean town.

On my way to fetch some coffee yesterday, I froze while standing before one storefront in utter awe.  That swiftly melted into frustration when I realized it was too early for me to worship in the temple of genius.

Designer shoes and gourmet chocolates.

It was total brilliance with a side of awesome sauce.

Someone needs to do this in Hollywood only I’d like to request that you design the store to look like a turn of the century bordello.  If I’m going to commit to an excessive experience, I want to go all the way.

If rubbery, artificially bloated lips and a smooth, expressionless mask that is actually your paralyzed facial muscles is your cup of tea, then women of Los Angeles, (and some of the men, too,) rejoice! Allergan, the company that brought you Botox (and raked in $600 million from it in 2007 alone) has a new product that will make your eyelashes burst with growth, causing people to ask, “Have you ever thought about getting into therapy?” “Are you wearing false eyelashes?”  At least according to one of the human guinea pigs (a pharmaceutical industry VP, no less,) in the trials conducted for FDA approval.

Today’s NY Times has the story, but this being Los Angeles (and I include you too, Orange County,) our sprawling city, recently reclaimed by the Prince of Plastic Surgery, will surely see the fruits of Allergan’s most recent labors, generously peopled as we are with self-adoring, yet fragilely insecure types who aspire to “reinvent” themselves on the outside in an attempt to conceal, if not drive a stake through the hearts of, their emotionally crippled inner selves.

The stuff is being marketed under the name Latisse, but really, it’s just Allergan’s glaucoma treatment drug, Lumigan, repackaged and marked up “slightly” in price.

During my time in LA, I’ve gotten used to seeing the boob jobs, puffy porn lips, strangely placid faces and perky little nosejobs. I suppose I will get used to the overgrown eyelashes too. I keep telling myself, in the latter case anyway, anything that makes the world a little more like Liza Minnelli can sometimes be a good thing.

Photo: Chameleon/Wikipedia; public domain.

Lissa Renn, The Hive co-owner, answered the phone. I blurted, “I live a 10-minute walk from you and I need a haircut now.” She said, “If you can get here right away, I can take you. My next appointment is at 7:15.” It was 6:48. (This is my standard procedure whenever I get a haircut.)

The Hive recently opened on Micheltorena St., steps off Sunset in Silver Lake. The space’s previous incarnation was also as a hair place that I had gone to for quick cuts due to its proximity to where I live. But when it transformed into The Hive, it looked noticeably different– more open, warm and inviting with better lighting. (Stuff like that is important to me.) The last place had lime green walls; the Hive’s are a soothing cream white.

The same layout has been kept; the only real changes, aside from the welcome repainting, are from taking away — walls removed and exposing a beamed ceiling– and adding different lighting. The music playing was mostly 1970s glitter rock. “Pandora,” said Lissa. “We got tired of our iPods after the first week. This is our T. Rex station.” Read the rest of this entry →