cranes, museums, and rock

Big accident on the 405, it must have been bad, and the guy driving was "charred" according to the news reports. Getting past it took well over an hour and a half. The truck had a huge crane in the back, and somehow that crane fell off and actually went onto the southbound traffic. It was bad. The cab of the truck was just black. Condolences to his family. It's weird how my arm is in the reflection in the photo.

Baseman! One neat thing about the museum is that art is taken super serious. Compared to how we handle work, which I think isn't bad at all, they are really strict. Gloves are important! I'm sure MOCA or LACMA would be even more strict.

Eishi Takaoka is in the house. He enjoys standing next to dumpsters.

Saelee, Clement, and Eishi loading in a serious industrial elevator. Museums are pretty neat. Behind the nice clean walls of the galleries is some crazy offices, and funny people.

Whoa, what's this? It's Thurston Moore at Echoplex wearing a Halloween costume. The Echoplex is close to the museum actually.

Even without his Sonic Youth band, his solo act rocks. I especially liked it when he got rid of the acoustic guitar and went electric. Thurston Moore is one of my guitar heroes. Not the game, but for real.

Saelee Oh gets on the ladder for more late night work.

Flavorpill props...l

Our friends at Flavorpill included us in things to do this weekend. It's always an honor to have their support. They're not the only ones. It always takes a concerted effort to make stuff work, and I'm happy to have help.

Scrabbel at JANM

Late breaking...Scrabbel will be making a trip from Northern Cal to play at the GR Biennale. It's quite a cool thing, since they don't play down here often, and they're the nicest folks around. They support the art shows at GRSF often, and Hellen Jo, the cellist is current in the Black and White show at GRSF.

See her art here.
And hear Scrabbel at their myspace page.
Or hear their covers at their site. This includes Sometimes by My Bloody Valentine.

This is lead guy Dan Lee who was the keyboardist in Aisler's Set.

Takashi Murakami Gala

You pull up, and it's like this. Valet parking, and you drive right up the road in front of JANM. There was a line of valet parking attendants... more than they'd ever need. It was a show of force and a show of Mercedes. I wonder if openings are normally like this at MOCA in downtown. I'd think not and this was some exception. It's a sunday too.

Paparazzi line. No camera went up for me. But for Owen Wilson, Christina Ricci, Cindy Crawford, Marc Jacobs, Toby McGuire, etc. I'm sure they went to work. It felt weird when I saw it, I only noticed that it was carpet. As I took a few steps, I realized where I was, it was a line of photographers. I saw some glam looking older ladies being photographed, I wondered who they were. I have a feeling they were famous fashion people. There were a lot of those. But for the most part, money could buy you in, so it's not invite only.

Murakami has his own Harajuku girls who pointed you towards his exhibition. They were mostly taller than me. I saw the exhibition again, and it's still good, still rockin, and amazing. There's nothing else like it, and you have to wonder how can an artist top this?

I shot a tiny bit of video of the Kanye West portion. He's an amazing performer. I was actually pretty close up, but the wide angle camera gives me some distance.
if you need, link here.

This is the entrance to dinner. You walk through the LV tunnel. Pretty neat stuff.

Dinner room had projection wallpaper everywhere, they even animated a bit. This was crazy.

Using all kinds of tools...

Dinner. You got no choice and this is what you got. Served to so many, it actually wasn't that bad. The meat tasted good. That tater tot is actually yam. The rest are veggies. The appetizer was some weird cabbage sunomono that was fancy. The sashimi was the next course, that was good too.

After event at Blue Velvet hotel. Quick jump on the shuttle and we were there.
That's myself, Seonna Hong, and Takumi Kaseno (he works for Murakami)
Above my shoulder I see Gabe Ritter and his reflection. It's like a little person talking in my ear.

The place mat was actually a plexiglass "art" piece. People were taking other people's. If you stepped away to say hi to someone vultures crept in and took em. I saw one lady with an arm load, and she was even trying to take them off of our table. I guess they make nice gifts and also free for the cheapies.

This is what everyone got to tell them at what table they were sitting at. Pull the card out, and poof, you find out, this leather item is by Louis Vuitton. 31 was my table, and ironically its was where there were a few recognizable people. Seonna Hong was one. Oliver, her gallerist was another. Michael Darling who's now curating at Seattle MOCA, and others. The table next to us was Takashi's family. Yes, he actually has a family.

If you wanted coffee, it came in this mug... Counting, you got a place mat, a LV thing, (I guess business cards can fit in it) and a mug.

laterals

I'm not sure if there's anything better than this new one except the older one... laterals are amazing in football, and they seldom work, but this one does. It was only yesterday, and it's Div 3, but it's still college football, and this is hardcore. I don't think I've seen such a play in pro football. But these two are amazing. Here's to you Trinity. I do think the Trinity version is more of a miracle, since that play is long and it spans the entire play field.

Mr Murakami

The opening was huge, imagine an art show with thousands of people. Sitting, standing, talking, dancing around, waiting to be seen, and a few who actually really looked at art. The line of the night, "I'll come back and see the art when there's no one around." A lot of people are scheming to try and talk to Takashi, whispering stuff, trying to find a way to get "in" with him. What will he really do? Hand you a bag full of money? It was nice to hear the sounds of DJ Krush for a minute, especially when I heard some of the old Mowax music.

Takashi came to town and rocked it, and I guess I'll see him tomorrow too. How often are art shows like this? I can remember them on one hand. Helter Skelter, Superflat, Ecstasy, and now Murakami. What can someone do to top this? And which one will have the commercial aspects as this? MOCA just defeated a lot of countries GNP tonight. I saw tons and tons of people holding the big brown LV bags.

While we were leaving, he was coming in pretty incognito, that's when I got to catch up a bit.



Mr. is amazing. He didn't flick me off this time.

Spiderboom mini clear!

This is rare. Not a lot of them around. It's clear, and the light travels through it nicely. That little hat is cute. Supposedly there's a clear smoke one as well, and who knows what other weird colors there are. Mine was clear. I hear sometimes, there's often not even one of these in a case. The weird thing is the top eye ball looks like it's more clear than the other two, but they're all clear. Small figures are the best. They keep going, and these are great.

"What did I do?"

JANM banner

It's up. It's in a week.

LV Time

OK, so this is the print on the bag. Hands? Weird, right? Either way, I dig the flowers, and the tiny details are really nice. It's too bad they didn't make any gear for men. I'm not sure if I'm rock the LV, but it's nice.

Takashi Murakami MOCA

Here's the pics for the show. It's pretty rad. It's going to be great, and it's everything one can expect. Take a look through the pics, it's amazing. Takashi Murakami did a talk at the press preview and kept it simple, talked about commerce and the fact that money is important. He also talked about his work, and this being his biggest show... yes it is. Also the cool thing is that he spoke it in English, which is something that he's been sort of shying away from lately. When I interviewed him way back in 2001ish, he did it in English, then he always worked with a translator.

The small MOCA shop was filled with Murakami goods, tons of it. You name it, it's there. The Louis Vuitton shop? It's going to bank big time. It's going to out rock any shop in the area for sure. Especially since it has the special MOCA only LV design.

So in the end, who comes out ahead? Where's this taking art? It's a pioneering show, and there's a lot to say about it. But I'm still taking it all in. This has to be his biggest venture yet, and I'm proud of him. Hope I get to catch up with him soon.







*Glad I shot pics, they're not allowing photos anymore.

Blonde Redhead

Blonde Redhead at the Wiltern. Yes, they're a great band - one of the best around. They seem to be getting better while most bands just start to stink after a while. They played most of the songs from 23, and a few older ones as well. Can't go wrong with that.

I didn't like the opener Autolux as much, although they seemed to have their fans.

Yes, I'm a bootlegger. For those of you who couldn't go.

The sun - the air - also the moon

The sky is brown - red, it's from the fires that aren't too close by. We have a filter of crap around us right now. I think it's like this in some parts of the world every day.

Not long after I shot the above, the moon was also a weird color.

Murakami coming up.

I got the above invite. I think members get it. It's neat and colorful. I look at it and think it's pretty happy. I open it and it expands much like one of Murakami's pieces to reveal an invite to the opening event. I'm pretty happy with it all. It's exciting and good for LA. But the invite is nice too. I'm sure someone slaved on it to get it just right.

I'm thinking, this is cool... then all of a sudden I get an email, Takashi wants to invite you to the opening. I'm thinking, I'm going already. Then I find out it's on the 28th... I'm thinking naw, I don't need to go again, the next day, what difference is it? I'm pretty clueless to events going on honestly. So I'm just about going to pass on it, but then I'm thinking, "what the heck.." They mail me the invite.

This looks nicer.

Like an origami ninja star, it unfolds. The invite is on heavy stock.

No, I don't need to bust out the $100,000 bill to come.

Kanye is going to play and Marc Jacobs will mill about.

Nice tiny ass details. This must have been a pain to print.

off and away

So Martin got stuck at the airport and couldn't get on his flight. Darn, an extra day in Hawaii, I'm sure he's pounding sand on that note. The HI film fest has it's weird issues with travel, I heard a lot about it from others too. Tickets not existing, late, confused, no shuttle to and from theater or from the airport for that matter, but then again, there's still help from the folks when trouble happens. I guess it's a give and take. But the neat thing is the Ricoh GR is still doing it job. I shot these... the above photo is pretty sharp for a quick shot. You can see Diamond head pretty well.

The arrow I drew is to my hotel (I think). The Sheraton is the weird triangular building on the beach. I guess it's that shape so they could get as many beach front windows as possible. Look how wide that hotel is! Bad feng shui is what I've heard....

This is the inside of Diamond Head. What are those buildings in there?

last shots

Last shots before I walk off with my suitcase to split a cab with M and W. Here's Ahi tuna Poke. Glad it's not Pokey. It's a favorite in HI, and the cool thing is that, it's just some weird concoction that they created. It's not in Japan, it's seldom in the US. And that's some local flavor. It also tells me tuna must be cheap sometimes.

Once in a while, a tag is interesting. An elephant? That's pretty cool.

That upper left one looks like an Uglydoll Wedgehead.

Last morning

Last day. At around 7 something in the am, I'm looking down the beach. Somewhere in that last building in the distance at the Sheraton, Martin and Wendy are probably crashed out. I got out and hopped in the water pretty early since I'm flying back today. I think I made my peace with leaving the nice beaches of Hawaii.

Hope the fires will calm down in Southern California. It feels weird to be standing on a nice calm beach across the ocean, when hell has broken out at home. Fires keep starting all over the place.

Last full day in HI.

Streetwear among all the other Waikiki tourist stuff. You just can't get away from it. They were having a sale, and well, I guess now I have more t-shirts. This is their second spot. The first being near ala Moana shopping mall. They do a good job, their shop is simple, it's tons and tons of t shirts and some other apparel as well. In4mation store.

Matsugen's Handmade soba rocks, but this is a pic of their Kobe beef.

I actually ate natto

See the dude making the shave ice? Look at the size of that thing. Shimazu makes them the biggest.

Anderson Le and the Shimazu Shave Ice

Crackseed store. So much temptation.

This is what our slide looks like on the screen at the film festival. Saw Helvetica tonight. I wish Shari Sakahara could see this film. It's a pretty cool documentary about the font that we use often. See the above photo. As much as it was informative, it also had good music, and had a great feel.

Day 4 - Local Motion

Yeah, you've seen the t-shirts, now here's the place. I'm digging on the pose by the woman in the hat in the background. This place is the tourist trap of the north shore. You walk in, and it's all about the t-shirts on both sides of the walls. With $2 shave ice, they gotta supplement it. I helped in that economy purchasing some gear. I like shave ice a lot, and I don't know if this is the best place for it, but it's not bad. So below... see the guy behind the girl? He's packing a shave ice? His head comes out of her pony tail... see his hand near his chin. No gloves, and it gets barehanded right on the ice. That's the local flavor...

Strawberry and Rootbeer

Shrimp trucks are around on the north shore area. Parked like beach whales, they offer the same type of dish, garlic and buttery shrimp. Cooked just right to the point that you can eat the skin if you want.

beached turtles - don't worry, they're just basking

Chestnut Tofu

amazing Shabu Shabu experience at Hakkei

Pizza party starring Andrew

D&D

The man running shit Anderson Le and the man running Vietnamese American film, Tim Bui

HIFF day 3 - Lance Hahn J Church RIP

My wet dream may not have a room full of naked hot ladies, but you know, I'll admit, it would have bags and bags of cracked seed. Whoa, I lost it at this booth at the flea market in HI. What was missing from this place? This wasn't even the entire booth, behind me was even more. I spend $50 on bags of dried everything. I'll eat it all too. The flea market once had a lot of vintage items, I even bought a small box of sentai vinyl figures, but these days, it's mostly a vast waste land of new items, t-shirts ($20 for 6), cracked seed, more t shirts, towels, and stuff like that. Surely ebay killed it. We also got bad news that our friend Lance Hahn from J Church passed away (I blogged about it on HB) I'm sure he's pretty unknown to those readers. We'll miss him much.

Li Hing pineapple chunks. $3.

Robocon and Shibre (his and her alias from the GR message boards)

Martin, Kamenriderv3, his wife (yeah her name is Chinese and I forgot)

Can't beat the Shave Ice from here. The locals know about it. But why don't the Shave Ice foundation of HI, do more promotion? You can't even find the ice in Waikiki. I could write a lot on this spot, it's great.

Daniel, Josie, and Conrad, you saw them in a previous GR.

Baby Mao, Sarah Tojo and Anderson Chi Min

The Josie Ho beach front family house, this is only half, there's another one of these on the grounds and that's where I'm shooting from.

the hypebeast

I'm still doing some blogging on Hypebeast updating and trying to figure out what the difference between this blog and that blog will be. Have any ideas? See anything happening? I'm still not sure, but I haven't thought about it much.

Smiles all around in HI

My man Lenny, the resident Genius was a pretty good help. He spent time being patient, making sure I didn't feel dumb, and made sure I understood everything. He worked on three computers at a time, and that was pretty good. Bottom line, he fixed my computer. I swear these dudes/gals make it look easy. Ala Moana mall was all right. They have tons of big time shops like Louis Vuitton, and a bunch of little ones too.

Cracked Seed Center. This place is the best. I ended up with rock salt plum and classic cracked seed.

Rock salt, cracked seed, the one on the right is li hing guava!

Koi at the Ala Moana. I dig fish a lot. I wish I took more time to look at fish.

Weenies and Spam musubi in a normal market

My lunch, the chili with dogs over rice rocked. The mac on the upper left was ok, the noodles on the right was alright. The chicken was decent. This was at the Dole mall food court!

Food land in Ala Moana. Everything looked great, and this was a market!

Daniel and Lisa do the tiger growl

Wendy and Martin do the monkey. Me, the 5th wheel.

Genius in Ala Moana

Every good place you go, there's an Apple store. Let's see if these Hawaiian geniuses can fix my machine. It's early like 9am and I'm at wonderful Ala Moana. Crackseed center is here! That's the other place I'm hitting after this. I made an appointment at 9:20, and so far, the help here looks pretty good, just like at the other Apple stores. What kind of Kool Aid are these folks drinking?

- addition - Lenny fixed it no problem. I'll write more later.

ABC

There's nothing crappier than crappy internet in your hotel room. But the good thing is there's an ABC store across the street from my hotel, the Princess Kaiulani. A decent place for sure, and it's near the mallish Waikiki street. I haven't been here in ages, so it's nice to have the comfortable ameneties that you might fight in Tokyo or Sawtelle. First thing I bought after a delayed flight and long and crappy bus ride (take a cab fyi)was 2 rice balls, dried fish, and jasmine tea. So good.



This hotel also doesn't have a gym. It's a huge place, big pool, tons of food, but no gym.

TEXT!

So my computer is now doing weird shit. Emails look like they're in Thai, even when they aren't. I can copy and paste into word and they look fine, but they show up in Thai and when I type, they look Thai. I tried the text encoding, but that does nothing. It's something beyond that for sure. Any ideas?

Softball loss

We're 1-4 now this season. I don't know where our once hot bats went, but looking forward, our defense felt all right. For some reason I like hitting against this pitcher. I went 3-3 in the first game and went 3-4 today. I feel like I can thread a needle with the softball when this guy pitches. The only one I blew it on, was when I didn't think before I swung at the ball. I usually aim. If you've seen For the Love of the Game, Costner says something like ENGAGE MECHANISM. I forgot to do that on the last at bat.

I still play left field, where I pulled a hamstring, and it's bothering me right now. But it's weird, when it comes time to run, I can still do it, maybe it's that adrenalin thing going on. I'm not sure, but our team had some downs lately. Will, our 3b is out for the season, Hap our SS is out sort of too, maybe for a few reasons, but the best one is that his wife is 4 months pregnant, and our team is almost starting fresh in some ways. New players trying to figure some things out, and the same old ones getting older but hopefully better. Yeah, we lost 10-9, so close, but so far, and it was the team that's doing alright this season, but for some reason, we hang with them well. It's a decent league though, we're all sort of in the same level, although our record is probably the worst at the moment. We can turn it around. Right?

Hawaii

Leaving tomorrow for the Louis Vuitton HIFF. Hawaii is great, but I don't look forward to American Airlines. It's one of the worst airlines in the world. Long lines, bad service, bad everything so far. I haven't had a good experience on this airline yet. But once I get there, it should be great. I haven't been to the HI in a while, but this should be an interesting change. I'll tell you more about it as it goes along.

Apple combo

See the new gear. Imac with the new keyboard, the big ass printer which will make magazine proofs for us, as well as nice archival prints. We'll see if that basically does something as good as a giclee print. If it does, then it's on. It's nice to see this new gear, but most importantly, it better help us out. With the help of Transcontinental printing, we should be able to dial all this in, and it'll make the mag get done faster.

Ryan McGinness

Ryan McGinness art for any of your NYers. It never fails, Ryan will send me a roll tube of exhibition posters that are signed. I give them away to people around if there's enough, and that's a really nice thing to be able to do. I've known him for a bunch of years, and it's great to see him. At times, he's super busines savvy, at other times, he's a practical joker. Take a look at the link, and you'll see how this man is progressing as an artist. His small artist days are way behind him, and he's pretty much on his own road away from the group shows. The bad thing is, it gets harder and harder to do a project with him, and for him, that's actually a great thing.

See his show at Pace.