Giant Robot Store and GR2 News – Tagged "MW"– Page 63 – GiantRobotStore

bridalveil falls · mariposa grove · mirror lake · MW · News · yosemite · yosemite falls · May 18, 2011

In Yosemite

Yosemite may as well be Disneyland but it’s still beautiful and awe inspiring. Wendy and I just went for the first time, a couple of weeks before the park’s busy season which starts on Memorial Day. It was also a good time to go because the record-breaking snowfall is melting and feeding the waterfalls. Above: Yosemite Falls, one of the ten largest in the world. Below: Bridalveil Falls, which is famously wispy but was totally raging. While we were walking up the trail, a dude on his way out gave me his garbage bag to stay dry. In turn, I passed it to someone else when we exited. Hardcore naturalists and outdoorspeople will scoff at these photos, recognizing that we only went on the easiest of hikes, but we weren’t there to grow beards or bury our poop. The hike to Mirror Lake, below, is one of the paved shorties that we took. Just off Mirror Lake was a clearing where hikers started to make piles of rocks. I think the spot entertained and inspired Eloise a lot more than the taxidermy or kid-focused exhibits at the Nature Center. We ended each day at the Ahwahnee Hotel lounge areas, where Eloise napped and we sipped coffee to-go cups from the bar. We barely got AT&T coverage there (no T-Mobile anywhere) and were otherwise cut off from cell phone and Internet access for the duration of our trip. Away from the valley and just on the other side of the South Entrance is the Mariposa Grove of the Big Trees, which is totally worth seeing. The fallen tree with its exposed roots was especially cool–not unlike the reclining Buddha. On our final day, it snowed. Seems crazy for mid-May but I guess that happens in the mountains. Below is the famous vista from the Tunnel View. See Yosemite Falls? Although I thought the landscape would look cool with snow, the fog was a bit oppressive… Lots more that I didn’t post (come on over and I’ll inundate you with vacation and Eloise pics) and even more to see next time. Maybe in the fall…

Art · chinese american citizens alliance · chinese american museum · MW · News · May 10, 2011

Monkey, Tigers, and art

Every two years, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance sponsors an art competition for grades K-12. This year’s contest, which asked students across the country to submit art that reflects Chinese zodiac animal that represents them, was co-sponsored by the Chinese American Museum. It was the latter that invited me to be a judge. My favorite piece showed a tiger dreaming about his birthday. Very realistic and surreal. All pieces were 18″ x 24″, and ranged from crayons and watercolors to inks and collage. There were a few oils on canvas. The subject matter ranged wildly, with elementary-school students going out of their minds depicting animals that not only co-exist in their own fantastic universe but put on fashion shows and clean up toxic waste as well. Wouldn’t the pastel rendering of a horse in space look great airbrushed on the side of a ’70s van? Sadly, there was some evidence that creativity becomes stifled as the age brackets become older, but there were always enough well-executed submissions to make judging interesting. The five jurors represented CACA and CAM, and included members of the Pueblo and the mayor of South Pasadena. It was interesting to hear everyone’s point of view, and I wasn’t afraid to call otherwise popular pieces corny. The ones shown here are some of my favorites, and many of them went on to win. Although the winners were determined over the weekend, their names remained anonymous and won’t be unveiled until a banquet takes place later this month. Or is it next month? I’m sure that CAM or CACA will provide the details soon, and the two grand prize winners and top three finishers in each categories will receive scholarships adding up to 3,400 bucks. In the meantime, I gotta get Eloise ready to enter when she enters kindergarten! The Chinese American Citzens Alliance lodge itself is a hidden and cool vintage gem in L.A.’s Chinatown, but what happened to the little to-go kitchen on the other side of the alley? You know, the one that still served big dan tats…

corin tucker · corin tucker band · jicks · mike clark · Music · MW · News · sara lund · seth lorinczi · sleater-kinney · unwound · May 09, 2011

The Corin Tucker Band at The Satellite

Corin Tucker with Sara Lund at The Satellite

The Satellite was shockingly uncrowded on Thursday night, but Corin Tucker’s new group proceeded to rip it apart anyway. Just like the Crazy Band (ex-Mika Miko) ripped up newspapers and scattered crumpled bits all over the stage as if it were a giant hamster cage beforehand–although I arrived only in time to watch the group and its friends clean up the carnage.

Corin Tucker Band at the Satellite (May 5, 2011)

While it would be easy to compare the gig to any of the great Sleater-Kinney shows I’ve attended, seeing the band for the first time reminded me most of “solo” Paul Weller. Although their music isn’t super similar, she and the ex-leader of The Jam and The Style Council left hugely influential and amazing bands and proceeded to play subtler but just as intense and powerful music. Even moreso, while fans of the old band may go out to see its ex-singer do his or her thing, they will be blown away by the new unit’s intelligent chops and tightness.

attention please · boris · damon & naomi · false beats and true hearts · Features · heavy rocks · kurihara · Music · MW · News · May 03, 2011

Damon & Naomi and Boris (old tour pics, new albums)

In the van with Damon & Naomi (and Helena and Bhob)

When I was selling T-shirts for Damon & Naomi on tour with Boris back in 2007, a lot of the audience didn’t understand the pairing. Especially fans of the latter band. Why would the red-hot heroes of stony, noisy doom rock from Japan hit the road with the acid-folk offshoot of slowcore pioneers Galaxie 500? I told the black-shirted vinyl freaks that the answer wasn’t exactly right before them, but rather on the side of the stage.

Michio Kurihara with Boris

Guest guitarist Michio Kurihara would stand in the shadowy outskirts during either band’s set and add his mostly understated but always intense flourishes and effects, adding nuances to the Tokyo rockers’ explosive set and noise to the Cambridge duo’s understated arrangements. In fact, both Boris and D&N had released albums in conjunction with the insanely talented shredder from Ghost and Stars. And they’re also all just plain friends. Coincidentally, both Damon & Naomi and Boris are releasing new music this month–with Kurihara.

alex zhang hung-tai · alex zhang hungtai · dirty beaches · MW · News · Zoe Kirk-Gushowaty · Apr 29, 2011

Dirty Beaches at The Echo and Good Shine

The last time Alex Zhang Hungtai came through L.A., he was on tour opening for Dum Dum Girls but didn’t get to play because their gig was a fancy hotel event. Nonetheless, I grabbed that chance to meet him. He’s a longtime Giant Robot reader, mutual follower of filmmakers Jon Moritsugu and Wong Kar-Wai, and a new friend of mine. Alex’s taste in cinema is actually pertinent to any discussion about his music since I think both aesthetics come through in his lo-fi but fully conceptualized work. On the current Dirty Beaches tour, which just went down the West Coast as is heading across the U.S., he’s headlining for the first time. I arrived just as Neverever was ending. I’ve seen the post-girl group band open for other shows and I’m a fan. Then, as the second band was going on, I realized that I neglected to put my SD card back into my camera after downloading its contents. Sorry, Bell Gardens. Your first and last songs sounded lovely but I had to run home. What I saw of the set did provide an interesting contrast to the headliner, though. Bell Gardens uses at least six members including strings and horns to make a pristine pop sound. After they broke down their mountain of equipment, Dirty Beaches set up only a vintage amp, some pedals, and a guitar on a floor to weave together a fuzzy concoction that clouds ears and melts hearts. Not even a mic stand, since Alex either holds his vintage stick while he strums or puts it in his back pocket. The set was short and solid, and the bulk of it was his noisier work. Fans of his prettier songs had to wait through more abstract pieces to get them. While the washed-out sounds of Suicide and cool of Elvis are usually cited as touchstones, the live set also recalled Chip and Tony Kinman’s Blackbird (early ’90s, post-Rank and File and waaay after the Dils) project with the mix of mechanical beats, avant guitar work, and emphasis on vocals that lies somewhere between crooning and Krautrock. What could be a cold combination turns out to be raw, direct, and very human. Alex’s onstage persona is like an un-undead Lux Interior or Guitarwolf off speed, although when he humbly asked couples to slow dance to “True Blue” traces of Hawaiian Pidgin emerged… After the show, we went to Good Shine Chinese Food in Monterey Park for some late-night Taiwanese dishes since Alex expects to eat nothing but sandwiches between the coasts. I had the pleasure of meeting his friend and filmmaker Zoe Kirk-Gushowaty as well. Dirty Beaches wrote a score for her documentary Practical E.S.P., which investigates “the boundaries of verbal communication through equine facilitated therapy.” Between her work and Alex’s experiences and opinions on new music all over Beijing, Taipei, Singapore, and everywhere else–not to mention our favorite movies–we had a lot to talk about between bites. I have no double Alex will kick ass...