Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The best thing about editing Giant Robot magazine was being able to share the rad things that friends do. And make new friends that do rad things. That’s how I feel about my first sizable “solo” project, assembling (and sometimes even participating in) excellent shorts that friends have created and then complementing them with works by new friends. So while the Animal Style (Chicago) and Son of Animal Style (Honolulu, San Diego) skate video programs have given my crew an outlet for their hard work, they have provided me with fodder to keep engaged, keep pushing culture.
And is there a better place to do it than the Hawaii International Film Festival? No other fest balances East and West, high and low, or big budget and indie like HIFF. And while it makes sense for the latest iteration of the Animal Style program to show alongside the long-awaited Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, it’s even cooler that it is on the same roster as Cloud Atlas, Tai Chi 0, and The King of Pigs. It puts skateboard movies in the same conversation as “real” cinema. And with guys like Spike Jonze, Mike Mills, Jason Lee, and even Sam Lee coming from the world of skateboarding, why not?
I got to know my friend Chris Sutton when the band he was in, Dub Narcotic Sound System, was touring with The Make-Up and they all stayed at my house. Was it in 1996 or 1997? I can’t remember, but we’ve kept in touch and I’ve seen him play with plenty of other rad bands since then, including Nudity and Spider & The Webs. And bought plenty of records that feature his contributions: C.O.C.O., Hornet Leg, Dirtbombs, Chain and the Gang, Hooded Hags. But at the moment, he’s playing with The Gossip. What!
Can anything be better than a rad display of photography from the early ’80s L.A. punk scene accompanied by full sets from legendary bands? For free? That would be last weekend’s closing party from the We Got Power magazine crew’s We Survived The Pit installation of photos (live, candid, behind the scenes) and artifacts (zines, skateboards) featuring live music by Meat Puppets, The Middle Class, and Phranc. Well, catching even more music earlier in the day isn’t a bad thing.