Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The Satellite has become a backup to The Echo in recent years, so I was stoked to see two rad bills there in the same week. Gotta love being able to walk to shows, especially when it’s a friend’s band. How could I miss seeing Money Mark jam with The Mattson 2 (above)? But first things first. I capped off my Father’s Day by checking out J Mascis’ latest project.
I’ve been seeing Fredo Ortiz play amazing arena shows (Beastie Boys at the Velodrome) and special, smaller jams (w/ Tommy Guerrero, Ray Barbee, and Money Mark at HUF) but finally met him at Giant Robot Biennale 3 (above). We’ve kept in touch and bumped into each other here and there, and I was stoked when he jumped at playing Alex’s Bar on December 27. Here’s some scoop on his solo material, his successful Kickstarter campaign, and the gig.
My curated program of skate shorts had its third and final showing at the San Diego Asian Film Festival on Saturday afternoon, and it still hasn’t gotten old. Having skateboarding-related or -inspired videos made by friends alongside indie flicks like Daylight Savings and old-school kung-fu classics like Five Fingers of Death is not only cool but important. It puts a niche genre into a larger context, and hopefully exposes skate video junkies to other forms of moving pictures while turning on film festival folks to the energy and aesthetics of skateboarding. (Above, left to right: Me, Wing Ko, Tad Suzuki, Eric Matthies, Ben Clark, Willy Santos.)