Amazingly, the ground floor of Natural History Museum is largely unchanged from how it was when I was a kid. The taxidermy is as old school as can be, crossing the line well into tacky and looking scary good at the same time. But even better are the backgrounds. If I ever get a '70s van, I'd want the NHM staff to paint the sides of it. If I ever form a metal band, I'd ask them to paint my album cover, too.
After months of preparation, my sister finally opened her Kumquat Outlet in Eagle Rock. Opening a shop wasn't something she planned until a spot opened up on a happening block between complementary kids' clothing shops. It had cheaper rent than her previous workspace, provided a chance to move some back stock, and increase the brand's local visibility.
The inside is bright and airy, and uses Kumquat's identity originally introduced by Hero Studios, Jane Ward's graphics with elements of the bird print designed by Wendy, and furnishing ideas from the fine folks at Formation Association. Our mom (left) did a lot, too, and so did Carlos.
Among the products for sale at a reduced price include many of Wendy's classic patterns such as the elephants and pandas. As for the fixtures, most are stock Ikea, but arranged in a really clean, smart manner. I believe the chandeliers are on loan from Bucky.
It was really important for the space to be both kid and parent friendly, with space for strollers as well as a bunch of toys and books and mini-sized furniture in the front area. Eloise approves, and so do I.
Check out the shop at: 5054 Eagle Rock Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041. Call first, though, because the hours are not quite set: 323-254-5074.
Went to the Natural History Museum this afternoon so Eloise could check out the butterfly exhibit. Wing was there to hook us up...
The exhibit takes place in a tent right outside the main museum. You can get in for $3 with our without museum admission (although if you're with a member, like our friend Thy, you can get in free).
Thy shows Eloise some very hungry caterpillars.
There are butterflies everywhere, fluttering through the air and sunbathing on the strategic vegetation.
This one reminded me of Mothra.
Above, Wendy's favorite species.
Luckily, Eloise isn't old enough to wonder what was going on. These two were making a caterpillar.
An allusion to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion: Watch out for hitchhiking butterflies!
On Friday, Wendy and I were invited to be guest judges for her old boss/our good friend James Chu's Advanced Product Design 3 class at Art Center. It's an interesting course; the students are challenged to choose a brand; identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; and then come up with a number of products to strengthen it. They are also asked to do a competitive analysis and demographics study, as well as come up with a load of interesting, innovative, and realistic products. Not easy.
It was interesting to see the amount of work that is asked of a student at the top-rated art and design school, which is super, super expensive ($17,000 a term?). Most of the works we saw were quite thought out and well executed, and obviously took many sleepless nights. As for the rare exception... well, there's a reason why students are in school and not out in the real world yet. No matter how much tuition you pay or how good the school is, it's still true that you only get what you put into anything.
And this is no insult to the students, but more of a warning: I think we work twice as hard on the mag as any of them...
My sister's Kumquat retail shop is opening tomorrow, Saturday, June 27! If you're in SoCal, check it out at 5054 Eagle Rock Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041... It's my understanding that it will feature classics from previous seasons at great prices, as well as some surprises. The hours will be limited, so you might want to call before heading out there: 323-254-5074.
Making good on my promise to Choi Jeong-Hwa, I returned to LACMA with Eloise so she could check out the artist's installation made as part of the Your Bright Future show. Surrounded by goods purchased at the 99-Cents-Only Store, she was as happy as a clown fish in a sea anemone.
The group show featuring 12 Korean artists is only open to LACMA members until Sunday, but Choi's installations can be viewed by anyone on the museum grounds. You don't even need to buy an admission...
Holy crap! Giant Robot 60 is now available at the GR shops and on the way to cooler newsstands and bookstores across the country (and then some). It's our fifteenth anniversary issue, and here's what's in it...
Star Wars pilgrimage in Tunisia Cover art by/interview with Deth P. Sun Factory Records co-founder and graphic designer Peter Saville Chocolate/Nike/Stüssy skater Richard Mulder Quick Gun Murugan's Shashanka Ghosh Paper Hearts writer and star Charlyne Yi Goh Nakamura has guitar, will travel Asian American Movement documentarian Tad Nakamura Daniel Wu vs. MC Jin Stranger-than-fiction essay by Tokyo!'s Ayako Fujitani Epic Japanese rock band MONO Instant Karma by Sarba Das Death Sentence: PANDA! Plus: A fairly humble 15th anniversary celebration of awesomeness, tidbits on cool stuff, reviews that don't suck, a Perfect Day in Hawaii, bonus comics, and a finger puppet (!).
Returned to the office only to discover that the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Nah, not really. But here are their cover suggestions in case we revive the Robot Power zine, the half-issues that we made between issues 17 and 21. Above, Julienne Carrot's racy take. Below, Emilio Pocket's "Brown Issue."
Bears, bakeries, booze, Hot Cheetos, and Don José--actually not bad article ideas...
GR friend and photographer and now active blogger Ben Clark oversees the carnage at my favorite restaurant, gr/eats. He was in the area for some photo meetings, and we talked about music, the mag, and his work. He said that he's been really happy with his GR work, except for one photo. Can you guess which one it is?
The best non-GR publication at the GR store is this thick, comprehensive, and gorgeous Sonic Youth book. It's loaded with art, essays, band trivia, and two 7" singles, with each side dedicated to a band member. I try not to buy much of anything anymore, but this was really, really tempting. Chris made sure I didn't try to get a five-finger discount.
This morning I attended "press day" at LACMA on the cusp of the opening of Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea. The event is at the new BCAM space, but the main structure has been decorated by the plastic art of GR friend Choi Jeong-Hwa.
Many of the artists were on hand to meet and greet the press, and so were the curators. Second to the left in red is Christine Starkman, Curator of Asian Art (MFAH), who introduced herself to me and was really cool.
If you walk in a clockwise direction, the first pieces you'll see are by Do Ho Suh (being interviewed). The RISDI graduate depicts the collision of his Korean background and American education in a dramatic and incredibly detailed manner.
This detail is of his bedroom. The chair is probably about one-high high. The model kits, much smaller. The work is colorful and beyond crisp--as if you're looking into a dream.
I'm a fan of Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, which presents snappy black-and-white dialogues with a jazzy soundtrack that somehow reminds me of Pizzicato 5's space-age jetset distillation but in a digital, not mod, background.
Gimhongsok (being interviewed) juxtaposes gigantic animal suits, video, and the scrawling words of a crazy person in a multi-pronged attack on what is cute and what is real.
Outside, I ran into Choi Jeong-Hwa, who put together a colorful hanging assemblage of plastic goods from the nearby 99 Cents Only store. When I told him that I was going to bring my baby to the installation, he thought it was a great idea.
There's also a DIY plastic sculpture behind the museum, closer to the La Brea Tar Pits. Guests are invited to hang their own recyclable goods on the fences, and I'm totally bringing some when I return. Choi seemed pleased when I told him that the two guys in work clothes were discussing and defining art instead of doing their jobs.
Thanks to Christine at LACMA for hooking me up. If you attend the gala at the museum tonight, buy her a Coke for being awesome.
When I was in college, I used to drive back home to pick up my little sister and take her to shows. We saw the Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Fugazi, Redd Kross, and even Madonna in their prime. Sometime after I graduated and she started to attend UCLA, she became cooler than me. I guess that means I did my job. Happy birthday, Angelyn! I'm so proud that you're my awesome sister (and GR supporter), a rad mom (Lucia's in the middle), and cool businessperson (new Kumquat store opening in Eagle Rock next month).
I met Chi (right) shortly after I started dating Wendy. This must have been back in 2001 or so. It also happened to be right around the time the GR softball team started, and upon Wendy's suggestion, he became a member of the inaugural team. Anyway, paraphrasing the impromptu toast I gave tonight at his wedding celebration with Jenny, he are I are almost like family now in a number of ways. First through Wendy, whose family is close to his own. And then just by going through a lot and becoming close friends.
Eight years and 14-15 seasons of softball together is a pretty long time, and Chi has more nicknames than anyone else on the team: Ultraman, Tomahawk, Chi Magic... He's known for being a no-nonsense guy on the field. So I and a few other players were honored to do some post-game, post-food, late-night karaoke two nights before the big date with Jenny.
Chi goes all out on the softball diamond, but he leaves it all behind at karaoke, too. On Thursday he did some one-armed "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "One." The latter, his signature song, being U2 not Metallica. (Me? I mangled some new ones like The Alarm's "68 Guns" and Billy Squier's "My Kinda Lover.")
Last night I went to rehearsal dinner at Golden Dragon in Chinatown. We were in the triad room in front. Check out the blinging wallpaper.
Today's ceremony and reception took place on the Occidental College campus, where Jenny got one of her degrees. I've been driving around it for years, but had never actually been on the campus where POTUS made a pit stop.
Yes, their vows were funny and touching. Yes, the food was quite good. Yes, the GR softball dudes stayed until the bitter end for the outfielder.
Congrats, Chi and Jenny. What are we doing tomorrow?
Welcome, Benjamin James Lau. Eloise's new cousin was born yesterday and weighed a whopping 8 pounds 14 ounces. Take a load off, Cathy! (The new mom is healthy and looked great, by the way, but I'll take a pic of her with the baby in a couple days when her radiance isn't quite so strong.)
Wendy's brother Eric swears he didn't name his first-born son after the quarterback of his favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
My wife's "cousin" (Chinese village person), my friend, and longtime GR reader Jimmy Leung has started writing a blog about his recent tour in Iraq, which thankfully just ended. He's a smart, funny, and interesting guy, and I look forward to following it. Here's the link...
When I was in college and for a number of years afterward, I saw Big Drill Car (ex-MIA) play almost every other week. Usually it was at the Anti-Club with ALL or the Chemical People, and I swear what those three bands were doing rivaled what was going on up north in the East Bay at Gilman and with Lookout! at that moment.
BDC's original lineup got back together for a few shows at a bar in Huntington Beach last summer and they were amazing. Looks like they dug playing together as much as the audiences did, because they went into the studio and recorded some new songs, which are about to be released on a CD on BDC's own label that they released their first, one-sided Small Block EP on. There will be also be a bunch of singles ("Friend of Mine" on CD!), comp songs ("A Take Away" from The Big One?), and tribute cuts (Cheap Trick and Billy Joel, but no Buzzcocks?)... Whoa.
The insider that gave me the scoop on the new CD said that it should be out in time for the band's SoCal shows with ALL in July. The L.A. stop is at the city's worst venue, but that won't stop me from going.
The scoop:
Title: The Never Ending Endeavor Label: Varient Release Date: July 17, 2009 Format: Limited Edition CD
1. HOSPITAL SONG 0.48 - 2009 2. LATCH KEY 2:58 - 2009 3. EYE A DOOR 2:27 - 2009 4. DROPS IN THE SEA 2:57 - 2009 5. THE OTHER 364 1:38 - 2009 6. NO WORSE FOR THE WEAR 1:44 - 1994 7. WHAT YOU BELIEVE 2:35 - 1993 8. NOTHING AT ALL 2:06 - 1994 9. CELEBRATED SUMMER 3:18 - 1993 10. TRASH THE HOUSE 1:58 - 1993 11. THIN WHITE LINE 3:36 - 1993 12. I DON’T MIND 2:10 - 1992 13. THE SHAKE 2:46 - 1993 14. A TAKE AWAY 2:37 - 1991 15. SONG #40 3:27 - 1994 16. FRIEND OF MINE 3:24 - 1993 17. BLACK COUNTRY ROCK 3:10 - 1994 18. STEP RIGHT UP 3:03 - 1993 19. SURRENDER 3:37 - 1991 20. BIG SHOT 3:14 - 1991
Yesterday afternoon was a big sports day. Yes, Phil Jackson won his 10th ring and Kobe won his 4th, but there was also a GR softball mini reunion with a bunch of alum and and current players in Orange County. Left to right (the positions are blurry, but to the best of my recollection...): Jason (1B), Hap (SS/LF), me (P), Ethyl (GR supporter/bride), Rich (3B/groom), Bret (LF), Ant (LF/3B), BK (LCF).
Rich joined the GR softball team during the same season as BK. A bunch of the veteran players on GR squad bailed to play in a higher-level league with some ringers, leaving me to find a bunch of new guys. I picked up Rich and BK via my cousin Carey (Ant's brother). The two had just graduated from Cal, moved to L.A., and were looking for a new team to play on. I remember Carey saying that BK was the fastest player he'd ever seen and that Rich "bombed." Both were true. I don't think my team did very well that season, but the Carey's old teammates provided some bright spots, and were actually scouted by the team that played on the deep end.
On the way out--had to leave early-ish to pick up Eloise from my parents' house--Wendy and I stopped for a quick picture with Bret, Happy, and Kiki. Happy is wearing the same dress she wore when she played with Ray Barbee's band and was very pregnant with Kiki when Wendy and I got married. One of her bands, The Lassie Foundation, is playing tonight at The Echoplex, so check out the show and say hi to her if you get a chance.
Hey, another GR softballer was supposed to be there!
Late that night, I met up with another GR guy, Chi (RF, a.k.a Ultraman a.k.a. Chi Magic a.k.a. The guy you want in the foxhole with you.) He's celebrating his marriage next weekend, and just had dinner with his groomsmen Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. I was driving back from Fullerton during those festivities but got to share some apple pie a la mode with them at Twohey's in Alhambra... More on this character later.
Last night, there was a release party sort of event for Nosaj Thing at UNDFTD on Sunset. It's just a few blocks away from Wendy's parents' house, so Wendy, Eloise, and I stuck around after having dinner to say hi to the man, who I interviewed in GR58.
Also present was Chris, a.k.a. Free The Robots, who I interviewed in GR57 and just got back from China. There's going to be a little feature on that trip in the next issue... (If any of you in China/HK missed out on that action, don't miss Jason/Nosaj who's making the trip next month.)
Pretty soon, the bass started thumping, so we left to protect Eloise's young years and didn't get to introduce her to the Gaslamp Killer. Yes, I forgot her headphones but it's just as well. We avoided the temptation to buy her fancy new kicks that way.
Since this is the last, late evening of magazine crunch-time, Wendy and I took a detour after dropping off Eloise at her Gung Gung and Popo's house and before going to our respective places of work to stop by Millie's on Sunset. I had the chilequiles--nachos for breakfast!
Wendy had an omelet with goat cheese and artichoke hearts. She substituted the chicken for veggie sausage on the side. All good, but Millie's biscuits always steal the show.
And that's how we celebrated our third wedding anniversary. Tonight, the celebration continues with me and her sending and fine-tuning magazine files between the office (where I'll be working with Pryor) and home (where Eloise will be sleeping and Wendy will be on guard). Do I have a beautiful, awesome, understanding, and talented wife or what? Yes, yes, I know... Breakfast is not enough and I owe her big time.
GR60 is in the home stretch. I was home today, and invited a couple readers from this side of town to come over and help copy edit articles. We're lucky to have faithful readers like Lawrence and Nikki that will make time to help.
I got to clock in some hours with the the drafts as well. Yesterday, my brother was saying how buying new running shoes inspired him to run some crazy distances. Hopefully, my new indoor slippers will help me read a little longer tonight...
Still going through old photos. A couple weekends ago, Wendy and I went to Cal Tech (adjunct of JPL/Jack Parsons Laboratories) to attend her junior high school friend's wedding. I'd never been to the storied campus and it wound up being an incredible site for the ceremony and reception.
Karen and Steve's wedding was super fun, and it was cool that Wendy could help them out by designing the invitations, programs, menus, and so on. She made the "please take your seat" holders as well (below).
Congrats again to Karen and Steve, and thanks for giving Wendy a chance to wear her crowd-pleasing shoes and me an excuse to break out my Thailand suit.
When I agreed to give a classroom talk at Cal State Los Angeles, I thought GR60 would be done by tonight. No such luck, but I left the office a couple hours early to battle traffic, arrive on campus on time, and do the talk, and am really glad I did.
I've driven by CSULA a million times on the way to and from the San Gabriel Valley for Chinese food, but this is my first time to actually check it out. It's pretty nice. With just a few weeks before the end of the semester (quarter?), there's a palpable mix of academic dread and summer-itis. I even saw some familiar faces. One of them is below.
The course was called National Identity, Race, and Popular Culture. The way I wound up going was from answering the phone when the class's instructor was ordering magazines for her students' required reading. Not only did I take down her information, but I mentioned that Eric and I give talks to classes like hers... Of course, she took me up on it. I was relieved that not only did her students stay awake and alert throughout the talk about GR, Asian and Asian American culture, and the role/responsibility of media regarding ethnic identity, but they were actually quite engaged and asked interesting questions afterward. They even clapped when I split! (Wait, is that good?)
Here's the other familiar face--as well as my ulterior motive for wanting to visit CSULA. My friend Mike is a professor of American Studies there. Back in the early '80s, he and I used to skate Bronson Ditch on a weekly basis, and once we even skated with TA there. We went to quite a few punk rock shows as well, and I distinctly remember us seeing L7 one New Year's Eve. I haven't seen him for ages--maybe since Wendy and I got married--and this was a great excuse to say hi.
So tonight was great, but perhaps the best part is that talking about GR always makes me extra appreciative of my work and motivates me to make the most of it. Now the night is young, and it's time to dig back into mag work with gusto...
It's been crunch time and the pieces of GR60--our 15th anniversary issue--are coming together. At this point, we could really use some help with copy editing and proofreading. To those of you who've helped before, I'll be at the GR office in West L.A. on weekdays and Saturday afternoon. Sunday, I'll have the clipboard at the renovated house in Silver Lake. Call my cell, send a text, or whatever! And for those who've never helped but would like to, shoot me an email at martin[at]giantrobot[dot]com. I'm serious. Hit me up.
