Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
OFF!'s free midnight show at the Echoplex
As it was for a lot of you out there, this wasn’t the easiest year for me and my family. Following Giant Robot’s print magazine going on hiatus at the tail end of 2010, I was unemployed with no job leads or responses to my queries for the first six months. Then, after I got an awesome job out of nowhere, the company my wife worked for was purchased by a competitor and shut down. Fortunately, we’ve managed to get by through frugal habits, a rock-solid support system of family and friends, and the PMA. And yes, there have been highlights. Here are ten of them–some of which has been written about in the blog, others merely alluded to, and a couple of odds and ends–in no particular order.
Descendents at GV30
Before Goldenvoice promoted mega shows at Coachella, Staples, and Nokia, I knew the promoter’s name from flyers that I’d pick up at Zed Records, which also sold tickets to their shows at like Fender’s, Bogart’s, and the Palladium. Goldenvoice was the first promoter to book punk shows at “real” venues, giving chances to California bands that were treated like threats by the mainstream (Black Flag, Dead Kennedys) as well as touring bands that only got played by Rodney on the Roq (Damned, 999). My dorm rooms were decorated with those flyers, as well as posters for shows like PiL, Siouxsie, and the Jesus & Mary Chain, which also had the logo. This weekend, Goldenvoice honcho Gary Tovar booked three nights at the Santa Monica Civic (scene of early shows by The Clash and The Jam, not to mention Urgh! A Music War) to celebrate 30 years of business but also the roots of L.A. punk.
Hong Kong movie freaks know that Terence Yin has acted for some of Asia’s coolest directors, including Yonfan, Takashi Miike, and Johnnie To. But he’s also a singer, and his new Transparent EP features world-class production by Dan The Automator. A serious follow-up to the The Heavenly Kings mockumentary (which Yin co-produced with his friends, co-stars, and boyband imposters Daniel Wu, Conroy Chan, and Andrew Lin to skewer Hong Kong’s celebrity-driven, cookie-cutter pop music industry), the seven songs have dark lyrics, complex arrangements, and serious beats—not to mention hints of dark wave, dub, and even Britpop.
Although I hadn’t talked to the philosophy major from Berkeley in years, I had to reach out find out how this cool project, which was produced by Wu’s Revolution Management company, came together.
Christmas carols are great and so is karaoke at holiday parties, but sometimes you need to listen to real music. Here’s some new, not-so-new, and upcoming stuff for you to stuff your stockings and earholes with. (Above: King Khan and The Shines at The Echo circa 2008)