GR58 cover artist Stella Lai came by Sawtelle to drop off copies of her monograph. While she was on the block, we were going to get some tea drinks but changed our minds when we saw slushes on the menu. I got lychee, almond jello, and lemon jelly with condensed milk.
I think Stella got lychee, lemon jelly, and red bean. Eric got lychee and maybe almond jello, but I can't what the black was all about. So good. Suddenly, it was like summer!
In case you forgot what Stella's art looks like... Definitely look for her at the Hong Kong Art Fair next weekend if you're around Wanchai. It's Stella's first time showing art in her hometown/colony/district!
I've seen Thao Nguyen play a couple times, but tonight was the first time for me to catch her with The Get Down Stay Down--a totally different experience than her doing a solo show or fronting a crack band in tandem with other Hotel Cafe regulars. Her already catchy and complex older songs take on new directions and dimensions. The new ones sound heavy on their own. And Thao gets a lot sweatier.
The Hotel Cafe gig was only the second stop of the trio's current tour, and there's a lot of shows left to catch as they work their way to Thao's home state of Virginia. The band sounds great--even without puppets.
Don't forget to check out Thao's third consecutive contribution to Giant Robot in issue 59. Her no-holds-barred interview with the Get Down Stay Down covers everything from beards to truck stops to tour romance... Is it her finale?
Traveled down the 405 today and had the pleasure of meeting the guys from Heel Bruise: Richard Mulder, Roby Jeffers, and Thomas Yu. You know who these guys are, right? If you haven't spotted their latest effort at Supreme yet, take a crash course via their blog.
Also got to spend time with Paul Kwon, my friend who designs skate shoes for Element. He says that the upcoming Element Shoes video is sick (the team is currently filming in New Mexico) and the Fall '10 designs are even sicker (they're in his head).
Of course, no trip in that direction is complete without Ben Clark (shown here with his little lady, Isabella). I was glad he likes how his pics turned out in the new GR. And no visit with Ben would be complete without a visit to Wahoo's. What, they have a new tofu plate?
This weekend, a bunch of family and friends came over to the house to help assemble, move, and secure furniture. Ken, Eric, Ang, Carlos, Lucia, Michael, Cindy--some of them may not feel like they did that much, but having extra hands is what made the afternoon easy. When we were setting up the stereo components, Eric observed, "All this has been replaced by a tiny iPod." So true, but I really want to have a space dedicated to a record player, vinyl, and speakers--somewhere that you can chill, listen to music, and peruse liner notes or album cover art. And in the end music is meant to be soaked in and/or shared--not just heard on headphones while plowing through email, paying bills, or cleaning up the house and shrunken down to the smallest, most convenient size, right?
Dropped by the Arclight in Hollywood today to check to check out the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. There, I met Shashanka Ghosh, the man behind V Channel and director of Quick Gun Murugan, which is a hyper colored, super stylized flick about an Indian vegetarian cowboy bent on saving South India from a fast-food syndicate of meat eaters. With oddball aesthetics and subversive content, this is my kind of movie.
Filmmaker Faiza Ahmad Khan, whose documentary Superman of Malegaon is stranger and more incredible than Nic Cage's Kal-el ever could have been, and festival director Christina Marouda.
PR person extraordinaire Surekha Paruchuri catches her breath/catches up on email in the VIP lounge...
It couldn't last forever. Yesterday morning, the truck came up to unload three storage containers full of stuff. Now our brand new, clean house is finally cluttered again.
How much of this stuff will fit in the bookshelves?
Long after GR59 arrived at GRNY and GRSF, we received our copies on Sawtelle. You'd think I'd get sick of this sort of thing but I still get a kick out of cracking open a new mag. For Julienne, it's her first full issue as an intern. What does she think? GR: What's your favorite part of being an intern? JL: Getting to write reviews. I also like transcribing interviews, knowing about shows, and meeting cool people that come in.
GR: Like who? JL: Like your skater friend, Ayako, Jenny Shimizu, or that guy from Linkin Park!
GR: But aren't Eric and I cool? What about Emilio? JL: Oh yeah. I meant that's my favorite part.
GR: You really like transcribing? JL: I do. I don't get to interview people, but that's the next best thing.
GR: What's the best thing about the new issue? JL: The Sashie article because his art is convenience stores, videogames, Coke machines, and pop culture I can relate to.
GR: Is there an article you don't like? JL: I don't think so. You guys didn't do Dave Choe this time. Usually that's the one I don't like.
The new issue arrived at GRNY and GRSF today. It should be on Sawtelle at any moment. What's in it?
- Cover art and interview by Masakatsu Sashie - Actor Masahiro Motoki and director Yojiro Takita from the Academy Award-winning Departures - Actress and ass kicker from Chocolate Jija Yanin - Daniel Wu moving bricks in Sichuan - Tokyo Sonata director Kiyoshi Kurosawa - Tokyo! actress Ayako Fujitani - Master of cute bento, Makiko Ogawa - Ex-mafia badass relocated, Kenji Gallo - Seventies smut deconstructed by Anna Biller - Art photographer Gina Osterloh - Anti-war photographer Paul Park - Thao Nguyen interviews The Get Down Stay Down - Abe Vigoda--the band, not the actor - Suki Ewers--from Opal, Mazzy Star, Anemone, and, um, Suki Ewers
Plus: favorite pieces of art, hard-to-find books, new tunes, a mixed bag of movies, anime that doesn't suck, and a visit to the White House. (What, no toys?)
Hitting stands, shelves, and mailboxes soon. Please support your local newsstands, bookstores, and the GR shops!
I knew that it wasn't a good idea to skip a physical exam for five or six years. But it turns out that's not because it was irresponsible to my well-being or my gig as a husband and new parent. No, obviously I'm not supposed to go at all because an annual checkup is no longer covered by my health insurance plan. WTF? Isn't that something everyone is supposed to do?
Yesterday I called Blue Cross to find out why I received a bill, and it turns out that preventative coverage has been taken away from my coverage since the last time I had a checkup. If I want one, I have to go to a clinic that is dedicated to that sort of thing--and not my primary care physician. That makes no sense at all (just dollars). I was about to go off on the help-desk person, but stopped to tell her that I know it's not her fault and that I don't blame her. But I get mad just thinking about it, am pissed off about having to play $250 to get felt up, and definitely worry about Eloise's health care since she's on my account.
The state of health care in the U.S. is so fucked up. Even if you pay your premiums and think you're covered, you probably aren't.
I caught the first half of Goh Nakamura's house concert on Saturday... Super talented performer, super chill dude, and incredibly gracious, longtime GR reader. If you missed the Bay Area indie mainstay's late-night performances after the Heisuke Kitazawa show, he'll be back in L.A. this weekend.
I spent the last three days sanding and oiling the kitchen counter (below). The architectural form looks cool, but there's a ton of surface to protect. The contractor said it could be done for about $1,000 but we decided to to it ourselves...
Below on the left you can see the exposed wood after the first sanding (120 grit). The right is the first coat of oil. The first day required two hours of taping off stuff I didn't want to rough up, four hours of sanding, and two hours of oiling.
Greg came all the way up from San Diego to help on the second day (220 grit). That made a big difference.
Meanwhile, Ken finished hanging the media unit, which floats under the TV. The piece isn't made for electronics, so he had to cut a bunch of holes for plugs, wires, etc. It looks totally pro.
Daniel came by today (320 grit). The mercury hit 90 degrees, but the house stayed fairly cool with big doors, strategic windows, and all the insulation. A good test of its eco qualities.
Eloise gives thanks to everyone who came by to help... (Who wants to assist with moving next weekend?)
On Thursday night, I went to the record release party for Crystal Antlers at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. The Long Beach band has the dubious honor of the having the last release by Touch and Go (home to Big Black, Shellac, Jesus Lizard, Seam, Slint, Laughing Hyenas, Pinback, TV on the Radio, Urge Overkills, Rollins, Ted Leo, etc.) which recently ceased releasing new albums.
The new album is a steaming dose of psychedelic garage rock with vintage R&B overtones, and the group delivers the goods live with louder vocals and tight-as-hell instrumentation. I have no idea what color the singer's eyes are, but I could essay his dental work quite easily throughout the set. Definitely worth watching... (I think the photo above includes all the members except for a guest horn player who sat in a couples songs, RFTC-style.)
Opening the night was Har Mar Superstar, but that's another story.
Stoner Park was the scene where familiar foes faced off for the season opener as Giant Robot routed The Nortons to the score of 24-8 in six innings. Mainstays at the C level on Thursday nights The Nortons came equipped with a new service pack of players that didn’t prove too effective that night. The Robot offense got on the board early when Second Baseman Sean Caster belted a two run homer in the opening frame.
“I put the midget in the cupboard,” said Caster regarding his four bagger, who managed to go 3-for-4 with 6 base knocks despite seeing a terrible array of pitches.
The Nortons came back to equalize on the bottom half of the same inning stringing together 5 hits but left the bases loaded. Despite matching the offense output of the Robots in the 1st inning this was the closest the Nortons got for the rest of the game.
The GR batters showed a good amount of patience taking many walks from the wild Nortons hurler and cashed them in during the 2nd inning with 5 runs and 3rd inning with an explosion of 8 runs that was highlighted by shortstop Michael Idemoto’s 2-run shot.
“That ball was hit to another IP address,” remarked Catcher Brian Tse on the Idemoto bomb..
Giant Robot Pitcher Paul Kim had an effective start on the mound surrendering 2 earned runs and striking out 3 Nortons batters. Despite a few miscues on the field the Robot defense kept the Nortons in check for most of the game.
“The defense was good, but we weren’t really tested. We’ll be fine,” said Idemoto, who went 4-for-5 for the night.
The highlight of the night came in the 2nd inning where manger and third baseman Bill Poon smoked a drive past the left center fielder for a home run that had the robot bench and fans in attendance standing up and cheering.
“It was the best seeing Bill make that home run right when we pulled up in the parking lot,” added fan in attendance Hunter Minami.
On the verge of falling prey to the mercy rule in the 5th inning the Nortons capitalized on a few robot fielding mistakes to extend the game a little longer but it only resulted in stat padding for the robot offense.
“Prior to the game, I just wanted us to win to get off on a good start, to show Nortons that we were still the team to beat. I thought we stayed focused and in turn we did well,” said manager Poon, who is just 17 RBIs short of reaching a bonus in his incentive clause.
Next up for the Robots is the Century Park All Stars at Penmar Park with a 9 pm PST start.
“Were happy to get start off the season with a win,” said First Baseman Jason Kato. “We just need to go out next week and play hard with intensity. No Mercy!”
My friend shoe designer Paul Kwon (left) bust out of the Element office to pay a visit and check out Sawtelle. He brought Chad Tim Tim (right), who was taking a break from shooting footage for the Sole skate video. Of course, we ate at gr/eats. Nice to catch up with the guys (Paul's travels, Chad's 7-month-old little girl), hear what's been going on at the head-to-wheel skate company (Fall '10 designs in the works), and set some ideas in motion for some magazine articles (you'll see)...
Eloise had her first Easter today. The egg hunt concept was lost on her, but we had a good time hanging out with her cousins at my sister's place in Eagle Rock, and I've been eating her candy all day.
Also dropped by the new Kumqut shop, not far away. My sister and her crew (including my brother-in-law Carlos and my brother Greg) did a lot of work on the spot over the weekend, and it should be ready for a May opening.
Meanwhile, I had my own sweatshop going on Saturday. Frank provided his truck, some tools, and labor on the storage units.
Kazu also worked on those.
Ken worked on our wall unit for the DVD player, videogames, etc. We like how it looks, but what's up with the faulty hanging hardware?
Here's Martin C., who assembled the shelving.
Besides taking pictures and getting in the way, I was a floater and provided the pizza.
Everything is coming together... Getting ready to move back in.
Just got back from the Paper Shapers show at Scion Space. We got there shortly after it opened and it was already packed. Above is Hunter Stabler, who made the super ornate, metal-tinged paper cuts by the entrance. I saw him yesterday but never got around to talking to him. Funny thing is I was wearing a High on Fire Shirt then, and he was wearing one tonight--the same one that he's wearing in the program!
Shin Tanaka was the man of the hour. His interview in GR, followed by three punch-out robot ads in the mag, lead up to tonight's paper-themed show. Eloise was in awe of the man.
My sister Angelyn and her daughter Lucia, checking out Shin's stuff.
Here's Mu Pan with his ladyfriend. To the right, Polly Verity (from yesterday's blog) meets Eloise.
My brother Greg and my niece Saoirse checking out Origamu...
Peter Calleson by his intestinal-looking paper installation with Cate on the right and Michael Keaton to his rear (on crutches).
And now more GR folks... Legal enforcer Mitch hanging out by the bathroom with Eric .
GR contributor, softball player, and number-one Snoopy fan, Brian got dressed up. (Crud, I didn't get a pic of ad ace/curatorial dabbler Margaux, contributing photographer Max, and Max's dad.)
We saw hardcore GR reader Luis on the way out, where there was a huge line waiting to get in! It was time for us to get Eloise to sleep--she was starting to eat the program in desperation--but I'm sure Eric will put-up some behind-the-scenes pics and post-party blackmail photos on his blog soon enough...
I dropped by the Scion Space in Culver City this afternoon to check out the Paper Shapers show. Eric and Margaux brought in artists from all over the place to show off their very different ways of applying paper to art. That's Kenton applying the signage. (Hey, that number "1" looks little mangled.)
Today, our renovation supervisor Rody revealed his superhuman strength when our shipping container arrived and was placed in the backyard. Surely, without his might, the crane in the background would have tipped over and ruined the new fence.
Apparently, there's a glut of shipping containers because the shipping business is down. So our using one for storage is kind of like recycling. It's also totally waterproof and sturdy. (We're going to have to insulate it so the contents don't get baked.)
I have to admit that this moment was a little sketchy. The container started swinging toward our neighbor's balcony!
But it found its place on the cement footings and looks pretty good. I like how the backyard has very clean geometric shapes with very different textures.
From the inside looking out. Cutting any size doors costs the same price, so we had the entire side turned into doors. Here's a view of the house from the inside looking out.
Talked to Ray Barbee for a little bit today. He's stoked that his CD with the Mattson 2 is finally coming out domestic on Galaxia. (It used to be a Japanese import. Pic courtesy of Element's Paul Kwon.) Check out the guys on the road supporting the release of Thomas Campbell's new surf movie, The Present. Dates are on T. Moe's site.
Julienne with a screen full of selected pages, cover, and spine files for GR59. They've been on our printer's server for more than a day now, and we're ready to let them go. Click. I approve the mag files every issue, so I thought I'd let our intern do the honors this time. Just like that--the magazine is off our desk(tops) and ready for the prepress guys.
What does an intern do between issues? Maybe clean that monitor. It looks dusty!
Came back to the office after putting Eloise down to finalize some unfinished articles, touch base with the Minister of Color, and make sure the printer makes proofs through the night. So far, Pryor says, the images look good.
Just two more parts to finish: the cover text and the comics page. After getting those done--and whatever catches we make tomorrow morning--the files get approved and the proofs get sent to our printer in Canada.
Okay, it's not lawn. But does anyone have a humane way to deal with gophers? I looked online and found a solution that entails turning on the water hose and being ready with a shovel, but there has to be a better way.
Yesterday, my brother Greg drove up from San Diego and met me at the GR office to help copy edit and proofread the new issue. He's no stranger to the magazine--having contributed articles and helped out at the Comic-Con booth for years now--but it was cool to have him in the office and in the room with another one of my favorite people, GR's Minister of Color, Pryor Praczukowski.
This morning I met Greg at my sister's house, where my parents were already hanging out. On the way to Eagle Rock from Orange County, they dropped by Donut Man in Glendora to pick up some strawberry donuts. In season now! Luckily, they saved one for me.
We couldn't hang out long because we all had work to do. My brother and parents are helping Angelyn and Carlos prepare the new Kumquat office and retail shop.
Below, my sister explains her vision to Mom. I think it's awesome that my brother would drive up to spend the weekend helping me and my sister with our respective projects.
Now I'm back at the GR office working on the mag. See that binder in the top picture? I better get back to it, so I can meet everyone (including Wendy and Eloise) for dinner tonight...
Tonight, the much-anticipated Q&A with graphic designer Peter Saville took place in Beverly Hills. The moderator was Christopher Mount, former architecture and design curator at MOMA in NYC and editor-in-chief of I.D. Magazine. The event was free to the public, and worth every penny.
The conversation began around 7:15, and jumped right into the early Manchester scene--Saville's co-founding of Factory Records, working with Joy Division, the death of Ian Curtis, and evolution of New Order. Saville was very frank about him and his friends not knowing what they were doing, and breaking rules (design, business, and otherwise) without even knowing it.
During the hour-long talk, Saville also described applying his currency from the music world to do work in fashion in his 30s, dabble in Hollywood later on, and delve into politics now that he's in his 50s. He currently works for the city of Manchester, which sponsored the talk in an effort to boost awareness and tourism, as its Creative Director. What a job title.
Afterward, there was a reception with food and music. Wendy's friend Ian, above. Below, Saville with guest DJ Tim Burgess of the Charlatans. I saw Saville signing Burgess' vinyl that he designed, which made me feel better about fanning out and a little bummed about all my vinyl being in storage away from the man and his Sharpie.
On the way out, we received goody bags including a Saville postcard and program for the Manchester International Festival coming up in July. Also, a very soft T-shirt with the evening's logo and a subtle tribute to the color-coded alphabet from the Power, Corruption, and Lies album cover.
There was also a signed-and-numbered poster (out of 200) and Manchester tote. Funny thing is that during the talk Saville went off on the fashion industry--handbags, in particular. (I think these are utilitarian and probably approved by him, though.)
Seeing New Order at the Santa Monica Civic on the Low Life tour (with fellow Factory band Abcdarians) was one of my first "real" concerts. Later on, I saw them on the Brotherhood and Substance tours, too. Funny thing, though, is that while I pored over album artwork (and felt the textures of some of them as well), I never even thought about the design or designer. To have this behind-the-scenes look so many years later--putting it into the context of art, design, and culture--is amazing.
