Radiohead at The Hollywood Bowl 2008
August 25, 2008 | Categories: Los Angeles / Music

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing my favorite band in the world, Radiohead, perform at The Hollywood Bowl, one of the best concert venues I’ve ever experienced. This was my third time seeing Radiohead, the first being post-Kid A, and the second being post-Hail to the Thief, the first time being one of my favorite concerts ever, the second being a pretty big disappointment, mostly because Hail to the Thief is crap. But last night could easily be described as one of the single best, if not THE best concert that I’ve ever seen.

The playlist was awesome, hitting songs from every album, and to my enjoyment, they finally didn’t play Creep, thank the gods. Of everything played the most surprising song was definitely Street Spirit, which I totally enjoyed, and was glad they played that instead of The Bends. The most improved song they played was The Gloaming, which is the second video above. I LOATHE The Gloaming, it’s probably my least favorite song ever, but they made it a little dancier, almost a remix of it’s original self, and it was pretty damn rad.

The absolute BEST part of the show though (and possibly the show-stealer), was the lighting. The top video up there is a performance of The National Anthem which should give you a taste of how extremely overwhelming and beautiful the effects were. The Gloaming was also really beautiful and helped to enhance the mood as well. The colors being shot out by those bars was absolutely incredible, I haven’t ever seen anything like this done to this level, it’s a pretty damn hard act to follow.

Hopefully some of you will be seeing Radiohead in the near-future, or possibly already have? I really hope they release a DVD of a live-performance, I’d snatch it up in a heartbeat.

Bobby

Art Shows in LA
August 14, 2008 | Categories: Art / Design / Illustration / Los Angeles

Last night it came to my attention that there are about a million art shows happening in LA this weekend, so I thought I’d try and help fill everyone in on what’s going down.

First up tonight is I AM 8-BIT, the awesome video game inspired show that for the past couple years has been really great. The show runs from 8 to midnight, and if you’d like more information like the address, click the link above. I’d also like to give a shout out to my old friend Ben Klamm who’s having his first bug art show here in Hollywood and his work looks great! Click here for more info on that!

Tomorrow night Secret Headquarters is having a show called Where Have All the Heroes Gone? which features artwork by Mike Bertino. The show goes from 8 to 10 and should have free drinks and awesome super hero art.

Saturday night there are *gasp*… two shows! The first is Neckface’s new show Cannibal Carnival at the New Image Art gallery, which I’m absolutely thrilled to go to. The last one was full of crazy metal death masks and monster abortions, so I’m sure this one will be just as good, if not better.

The second show is called The 3rd Dimension and features artists like Stefan Marx, Andy Mueller and Porous Walker, who’ve created a bunch of 3D art, so that should be pretty fun to go to! These both look rad so I’m gonna try and hit up both of these gems!

Bobby

Simpleasures
August 9, 2008 | Categories: Art / Books / Design / Los Angeles

Today is going to be a pretty fun day, as it’s the opening of Simpleasures, a new event here in LA that’s bringing together the best and brightest in music and art. This first time is “showcasing independent publishing and experimentation in zine making from Los Angeles and beyond.” The whole thing is being put on by the folks at Studio Number One, Forest, and The Dutch Press, and is taking place at the Sublminal Projects Gallery. There’s going to be a ton of rad artists there like Travis Millard, Souther Salazar, Mel Kadel, and Liam Devowski as well as booths and things for sale from Secret Headquarters, Giant Robot, 826LA and a ton more. Not only that, but there’s also going to be music by DJ Diabetic (Shep Fairey), Daedelus, Professor Canteloupe, Danny Holloway, Sodapop, and Lucky Dragon.

The event should be really awesome, it goes from 1PM to 9PM, and there’s even a panel discussion with Souther Salazar and Travis Millard at 7PM, which I imagine will be pretty damn funny. So if you’re in LA you should definitely stop by, it should be amazing.

Bobby

Is This The End of Taco Trucks?
July 9, 2008 | Categories: Food & Drinks / Los Angeles

Photo courtesy of josewollf

One of the best things about Los Angeles is definitely the food. After a long night of dancing and drinking, there’s simply nothing better than a stop by the local taco truck to sober you up for your drive home. Sadly, my friend Max just forwarded me a link from a couple months back talking about Los Angeles County’s attempt at keeping taco trucks off the streets. I guess a number of brick-and-mortar restaurants are complaining that the taco trucks are taking away their business, so L.A. County has passed a law that makes it illegal for them to linger at one location for more than an hour. If they do, they face a “$1,000 fine or up to six months in prison.”

I’m not really sure why, but this pisses me of sooooooo much. If I have a craving for Mexican food, I go to a sit-down restaurant and have a nice meal. When I want a late night snack though, say at 2 AM, that same sit-down place is NOT GOING TO BE OPEN. This is the beauty of taco trucks, they stay open late, they’re cheap, and they’re fast. The picture above is my absolute favorite place in L.A., Taco Zone, and they make the best damn chicken quesadillas. The funny thing is that the closest “restaurant” to Taco Zone is a McDonalds, and the next closest is at least 6 or 7 blocks away.

I think the only thing that may be protecting them is that they moved the truck into the parking lot of a Vons supermarket, so hopefully they’re safe there. Still, it would be a shame to lose any sort of food truck anywhere in Los Angeles.

Bobby

Intelligentsia
June 25, 2008 | Categories: Design / Food & Drinks / Los Angeles

Since I have a lot of free time these days, I’ve actually taken the opportunity to actually relax. I work out almost every day, clean my apartment, and I’ve also started a new obsession… Intelligentsia coffee. I stopped drinking a coffee for a while, it just didn’t agree with me very well. But last August an Intelligentsia opened up down the street from my apartment, one of a handful in the country. Over the weekend Frank and I needed a place to sit outside and drink cool beverages, so we decided to try it out.

Well we ended up really liking it. I had an iced latte and he had a spicy ginger soda. They have misters outside to cool everyone down, beautiful tiles, and the people hanging out are always interesting. What’s cool is that they also have an online store where you can buy their coffee from. I’ve been 3 times in the last week, that’s how good the coffee is. I also love they’re logo and packaging by the way, The Dieline actually just ran a post about the packaging for the coffee last week as well. Definitely check out their site at the very least, and if you happen to be in Los Angeles, be sure to stop by.

Bobby

Megapuss with Lauren Dukoff at The Hammer
June 19, 2008 | Categories: Art / Los Angeles / Music / Photography

Last night I had the pleasure of going to The Hammer museum for a concert by a band called Megapuss along with the photos of Lauren Dukoff. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, though I know I liked Lauren’s photos, and I had heard rumors that Megapuss was the new side-project of Devendra Banhart. Well it turns out the rumors were true, Devendra, along with Priestbird drummer Greg Rogove and two other fellows (and a harpist for one song), are Megapuss.

The whole thing took place out in the courtyard of The Hammer, which is an absolutely beautiful place to see a concert. They ended up playing for about an hour, playing songs titled things like Duck People Duck Man, Chicken Titties, and Surf. They sounded a lot like Devendra, maybe a little more Beach Boys-esque, but still just as weird and awesome. This was their first show, so they were all over the place, playing a lot of Tears for Fears in-between songs. I also just want to say that Devendra Banhart is the funniest, most charming man alive. His banter was great and he seemed like a very genuine, nice guy. I also spotted Natalie Portman hanging out at the show, and I guess my friend Kelly talked to her about her racist dog. No idea what that means.

Check out Megapuss’ MySpace to get a taste of what’s to come! Also be sure to check under the cut for one more photo I took!

Keep reading Megapuss with Lauren Dukoff at The Hammer…

ROYAL/T
June 15, 2008 | Categories: Architecture / Art / Design / Food & Drinks / Los Angeles

Yesterday I had a pretty epic day with friends Nick and Jen, consisting of brunch at my favorite place in LA, Aroma Café, then shopping at Heritage and H&M at the Beverly Center and finally ending at ROYAL/T out in Culver City. ROYAL/T is a new café/shop/art space that opened a few months ago that’s totally dedicated to all things Japanese-y. It reminded me a lot of Giant Robot, but only if you mixed Giant Robot, GR2 and GR/EATS all together in one big building.

As you walk up to the building you see it’s totally covered in foliage, much like Fred Segal on Melrose. The one difference is that it’s a very convincing but fake foliage. Once you get inside you’re confronted with a giant Yoshitomo Nara dog statue set behind giant panes of glass, sort of like a high-tech version of the cages from Planet of the Apes. This is the gallery portion of the building, filled with Takashi Murakami paintings and other works of Japanese artists. Opposite the gallery is a small shop with art for sale, small blind-packed toys and other knick knacks.

Once you head to the back you enter the café filled with some rather cute tables and ultra-contemporary chairs. We decided have some tea and snacks and they were all really good. I had the Kyoto Sunset tea, a fruity tea with a taste of apricot. I also ordered Avocado Toast which was absolutely delicious. I was expecting something like guacamole on toast, but was surprised to taste avocado mixed with lemon zest and some other spice. It was totally unexpected and extremely refreshing. They also had sandwiches and soups and salads as well, they all looked pretty good. On a side note, all of the food and drinks are brought to you by girls in brown and white maid outfits, furthering the Japanese feel.

I took a bunch of photos with my iPhone, so they’re not the best, but it should definitely give you a sense of the space. If you live in LA I’d highly suggest taking a trip out there, it was particularly nice on a Saturday afternoon. Check out the rest of the photos under the cut!

Keep reading ROYAL/T…

My Take on Dwell on Design
June 8, 2008 | Categories: Architecture / Design / Los Angeles / Magazine

Friday afternoon I headed over the Los Angeles Convention Center for the 3rd Annual Dwell on Design Conference and Exhibition, something I had been really excited about since I first saw the ads pop up in the magazine. I got there around 1pm and it wasn’t very busy, which I was happy for, but there also wasn’t as many exhibitors as I thought there would be.

My friend Frank ended up meeting me there and we walked around, were slightly disappointed my the lack of really exciting products or services or whatever I thought I might find there. Not to say there weren’t some really cool things, but I had higher expectations. Frank and I were a little annoyed that everything was “hip and modern”, like there was no other way to describe the things you’re selling. The highlight for me was the cute, blonde guy at the GOOD Magazine booth who let me take a free magazine. Seriously.

I’ve posted photos of some of the other things that I really liked under the cut along with some descriptions, so check out more under there!

Keep reading My Take on Dwell on Design…

Dwell on Design Conference
June 6, 2008 | Categories: Architecture / Design / Los Angeles

I’m playing hooky today from the blog because I’m headed out to the Dwell on Design conference. I wasn’t able to go yesterday so I’m trying to make sure and cram as many things in today as I can. I’m excited for the Systems Building and Prefab as well as the Sustainable Interiors talk, should be fun. I’m bringing my camera along, but I’m not really sure if there’s going to be a lot to take photos of, but I’ll do my damnedest. I’ll also be at the exhibition tomorrow as well, so if you’re gonna be there shoot me an email!

Bobby

Cut Copy Live at Echoplex
May 20, 2008 | Categories: Los Angeles / Music

As I wrote yesterday I went to see Cut Copy last night and let me just say, they’re AMAZING. I had my worries because they’re so electronic sounding, but they play live instruments pretty much 98% of the time. But I’ll go back to the beginning of the story…

I was going to the show with my friend Mark and we got to the Echoplex around 9:30, where we were greeted with a line. A line to get in to a venue, even though we had will call tickets waiting for us. I was really annoyed by this, but we ended up only having to wait like 10 minutes, so I guess it was no big deal, but the security guys out front were complete morons and were not helpful at all in telling people what was going on. We grabbed drinks and talked to some other friends of ours before the show started, staring at all the weirdos. I was looking at this one guy, thinking he was really cute, but I’m very spoken for, so whatever. But it turns out that guy was the bass player for Cut Copy, hahaha… I guess I have good taste?

Right before the show started Mark and I pushed our way tot he front, pretending to look for people we knew who were at the front. We ended up stopping behind some 220 lb., 6′ 7″ giant douche bag, who when Cut Copy played he just threw his arms into the air like something you’d see in a 90’s gangsta rap video. Then there was his friend who was pretty much the same weight but like 5′ 5″ who just kept grinding into his girlfriend while dancing and holding her shoes. I was hoping my mutant powers would kick in so I could blow them up with my mind, but sadly nothing happened.

The show itself was awesome though. They played songs from the new and old album, they had a ton of energy and were exactly how I hoped they’d be. They opened with Out There on the Ice, which is definitely one of my favorite songs on their new album. They also played Future of the the last album, so that was fun to hear too. The show was about an hour long and that was perfect, even though it went by really fast. After the show we tried to get into the after party that Cut Copy was DJing but were promptly told that we weren’t on the guest list nor did we RSVP. Oh the glamorous life of a blogger…

If you get the chance to go see Cut Copy, I would definitely go do it. The visuals are great and they put on a super-solid live show.

Bobby