Love Psychedelico

Imagine, straight out of Japan, they're here to do some press, but master their album. So they did a quick meet and greet at GR2 yesterday. They have heavy fans in Japan, and one of their best traits is that they're still indie and people love them for that.

Bant in Turkey featuring Giant Robot

The magazine is called BANT and it's from Turkey. The cover art is Jim Houser. What does it all say? Not sure, we did do this in English, and then it turned over into Turkish. It's great to get press from far away lands who obviously get hold of GR. That's pretty cool.

Love Psychedelico

I'm not sure if you folks are into this, but you should come meet Kumi and Naoki from Love Psychedelico at GR2!

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310.445.9276

The pop-rock duo, already massively popular in Japan, are preparing to release their very first US album on HackTone Records. They're making a rare trip to Los Angeles and will be stopping in at Giant Robot on Wednesday, January 30th, from 6pm-7pm, for a special appearance. We'll spin tracks from their upcoming CD, This Is Love Psychedelico, a catchy collection of garage pop tunes filtering the echoes of the British Invasion through the neon streets of Tokyo.

why? I'm sure some of you know.

Lego Google... why? I'm still in deadline mode, and someone showed me this interesting thing. Is it Lego day or something?

Rafu Shimpo and Drunken Master

Our past ad man blows up in the Rafu Shimpo, a full page article, with a jump that goes from page 3 to 2! The article talks about his creative process sort of, MMA, some GR (he says nice stuff about us), and much more. Congrats to the Drunken Master. I like the part where he explains his zine was called "Drunken Master 2" since comics folks get so occupied with the first issue.



Whoa, full pager. I couldn't find a link so you could read it.

Comic time

I drew a comic. Had to do it since it happened moments before. Click on it to make it bigger.

iphone pics of the week (ippotw)

Daikokuya ramen in Little Tokyo. I've blogged it before. Pretty tasty, not bad for ramen in LA, which still isn't up to par. Santouka is better but it's thicker. This place has a mighty wait, that's maybe too long. But where else will you go is the next question... Little Tokyo seems to have issues with the dining.

Cousin Dan was in town and up to no good. He looks innocent.

But look what he made me do. Yes I just about killed it, then killed myself. Half chicken please.

Hi I'm Yuki and I translate and write movie reviews and do many other things. Yuki used to say that people made fun of her nose. Elephant was her nickname as a kid. My nose isn't so normal either. Oh well.

A sad sight. Why didn't anyone tell me these were in my fridge, this whole carton sat and sat and sat. I don't cook eggs since I have a cholesterol problem, so these are vintage. I didn't even know they were there and I look in the fridge everyday.

the fugitive

The marine is still on the loose in Mexico. He's guilty, most likely, but he still evades arrest. I check the news daily, and it's starting to slip. Will he notice that the news is slipping too, get lazy, and then get busted? Or will he keep hiding? Did he go further south? Is he in a hole shacked up, no credit card, phone, or nothing? Is he hiding as a homeless guy? What's he look like? Bleach blond with a mowhawk? Did he get more tattoos to cover up the one he had? Is he going to find a way to find the Shawshank dudes on that beach in Mexico where they give boat tours to tourists? I'm still hoping he gets caught, but at the same time, there's something crazy about people who are running from the law. Osama Bin Laden is a great example, he seems to just evade forever, even Hussein got busted in a hole, but how does Osama get away with it? Same thing, same story in a way. Got any more comments on this getting old story? I still don't know what I'd do. Would I just go to China and hide? Or maybe Japan? But Japan is too small. Maybe I'm best off where people speak English. Maybe I'd grow my hair long, get a tan, and live in the desert. I'm gladly not fit for this game, but I do think about what I'd do, every time this manhunt gets talked about. Why is that?

books!

I should be blogging more should I? It's deadline time. That's when you know things slow down in the blog department. But that doesn't mean, things haven't been happening. One of the best parts about being on deadline is doing the publication reviews. Seeing books, some made by the famous, some by no ones. Either way, each author is probably highly underpaid for the work they did for these publications. But at the same time, having them out there is a reward onto itself.

Incidental Nature at Giant Robot 2 kozyndan Robert Bellm PCP

A big pack of folks came through the Incidental Nature exhibition at GR2 on saturday. It's been a little while since Robert Bellm has been to LA, he said 5 years, so his friends from Art Center came through, and bunch of others just to say congrats, and welcome back. One visitor even flew in from SF just to be there, meet Rob, and that's awesome people will do that. I think he bought a handful of pieces. PCP couldn't be here, and was missed. He's a new dad, that's how it goes. kozydan, well, they're So Cal folks and they have a lot of friends, tons. They all came out, and I know they deserve the smiles they get from the people they make happy.

That's Robert Bellm in the middle. I think he had a good night. Like I said, he hasn't been to LA in a while, so this was sort of like his homecoming.

Jean Aw from Notcot. My hero.

Michelle Borok who'll you see blogging soon on the front page and Buff Monster, who'll be showing at GRNY soon. Buff's been great lately.

I don't know about the stash... I do wonder if this is the start of dirty sanchez.

This was insane and a testament to their fans. Bunnyfish cookies?

Amazing, and against the grain!

Cookies make people happy and if you weren't around, you would have missed out.

This was a paparazzi moment. Cameras came out in force at this moment.

A tattoo of bunnyfish. Neat clothing tag.

She also has a Choe whale.

Dan was hungry and this was some weird pasta. Glad I caught this moment, I doubt anyone else saw it.

Dj Frosty from dublab... see kozy in the background eating. I'm pretty good at catching people at their worst. It was a good night, felt like old times. I hope that was the look that Michelle gave me when it was totally packed. If it was, then I know we were in the same place.

Albert Reyes

Favre lost today, but had a stunning year. I'm assuming he's going to be back to do the Green Bay thing one more time. How did he just come back from being so bad? Anyway, that's Albert Reyes in the photo. He might not be Favre with the football, but he routed for Favre, since he's the last of the old schoolers still in the game. He doesn't like Tom Brady, since he said that when Brady was in high school, he'd get mad at a teammate and drill them in the head with the football. Since Eli Manning's team, the Giants beat Favre's Green Bay and will now face Tom Brady, maybe Eli will serve up revenge for his older brother Peyton who lost in the first round of the playoffs... That's what Albert said anyway.

Converse 100 Years Black Fives

In the mail came these. Interesting configuration and style. They're rugged and athletic. They look from the turn of the century, yet with new features.

It has a feel of newer Clark's type shoes. Sort of bootish but not, a little more sporty than in the 70s, and there you have it. A modern classic. When would I wear them in the question. I almost feel like it's for travel, when you'd take just one pair of shoes to do everything.

I put it up on HB blog.

Incidental Nature install! kozyndan and Robert Bellm

Went smooth and late as usual but look at the pics, this show's going to be great. I wish PCP could come, but he's a new dad and is doing the late night shift in Japan. That's a Robert Bellm piece above. It's a nice one. The ones below are smaller and great. That ones that's minimal? You saw it here first and it's maybe the last time you'll see it. It's not done. The show is tonite. Come on down, we, they need your support.

I Luv Film Contest

Make a 26 second video and maybe get a flight, and stay at the Hotel Tomo for a bunch of nights, and become a festival blogger. I like the idea, and I think even I can enter this. Sounds like fun. But you should enter too and maybe you'll be up there! Get to it. It's a fun festival.

Grand Prize includes:
· Roundtrip tickets for two (2) on Southwest Airlines
· Four-nights stay at J-pop themed Best Western Hotel Tomo
· $500 Shopping Spree at Macy's
· All-Access passes for two (2) to the 26th SFIAAFF

Here's the site.

Times time

Here's one of those articles about Japanese pop culture. I didn't expect this one since the conversation wasn't long enough, which then brought out some incorrect facts, but that's what happens when there's no fact checking or research. But overall, it's something to read, and ramen at Otafuku? They don't serve ramen there. I've been there many times, although I have heard on a miracle of an occasion, the chef will make ramen. I have a feeling that's a mistake since even the photo has an image of Levy eating soba. But good press is good press. Thanks much. LA Times.



Does Hanako care?

Wanted

So this dude is wanted. He's the marine who allegedly killed another pregnant marine and buried her in his backyard. He's married, his wife has no idea where he is, and he's been on the run. There's a world wide search for the guy. So even though it's a morbid topic, I've asked people where the heck would they go? It's life and death, you just committed the worst crime, and well, either you turn yourself in, or you run. But the world is fairly big I guess, but where can you go and live? One of the Japanese dudes Shoichi Yokoi lived underground for 28 years. Hiroo Onoda did the same for 29 years. Either way, the marine dude will probably get caught soon, or maybe he's commit suicide, but who has the nuts to stay hiding and looking over their shoulder their entire life? Is it possible? It's a long debate, and well, I'm curious.

Pervasive Persuasion on Supertouch.

Whoa, Supertouch, where I'm going to do some blogging at in the future posted a lot of photos from the event. I think they were from flickr, so they included some of Michelle Matthews, mine, Baseman's and more. The very first photo by Baseman is great. And BUTOH is spelled wrong there. Bhuto is closer in spelling to the Pakistani leader, Benazair Butto, who was assassinated. Yeah I signed an autograph too. It was all for the kids. Let's do it again. Take a look at Supertouch.

Danny Choo the Stormtrooper of Dance

Danny Choo as seen in GR51, is at it again. I've written about his past Stormtrooper dancing inhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Akihabara, and this is yet another one which is probably making people smile around the world. Is it time for him to dress up as IG88? He's fairly tall... maybe a Jar Jar? Check out his site it's at Danny Choo.com

You know you're in Little Tokyo when...

You know you're in a Japanese area, when you see an ad for a used Toyota Tundra, but upon further inspection of the photo, you realize it's a gardener's truck. Seen at Mitsuwa.

It looks pretty organized back there.

Souther Salazar doing a joint JANM MOCA teen workshop

Today was the closing of the JANM show. It was a great ride, but it wasn't done until Souther did his job which was to do a joint project for the kids. TOCA it's called... Teens of Contemporary Arts. They're from all over, and it's a program that MOCA does for the kids. Today, they heard Souther talk about his work and then they got some of his instruction.

The room full of kids. Many definitely got inspired by seeing his work. I think the best part is seeing them go for it. I think it's interesting how groups of people's work can be similar. Are they just looking at each others works and inspiring each other? If so, that's cool.

This table looked great. I just wished there was no paper on it. I think these palettes are funny. You shove your digit through that hole, and you can pose like an artist. The thing is, the work was mostly small, and everyone's sitting, so these didn't come into play too much.

One thing that was funny was that Souther held the mic while he was walking around. Sometimes, I could hear his talk to some kids and the mic would pick it up. There was another moment where he was doing something, maybe ripping a piece of paper and the mic either dropped and made a huge sound. Another funny thing was that Souther said some last words to end the day which was about the students work, and then I guess he noticed something, and his actual last words were something like, "and someone got paint on the mic." He smiled, and I smiled, and that was that. The mic though had purple paint on it.

Souther liked this piece a lot. I think it actually has some similarities to his work. The snake is sort of like a highway, and you can see a building popping out of it. The roads are something... I don't know, there's rock or mountains, and some drawing. The point is that she used collage items that weren't photos of roads or mountains, but found substitutes and made those work. Her idea was that this represented a trip on the 5 freeway. From leaving the city to a long drive.

Pervasive Persuasion MOCA

That's Denise Gray at saturday's MOCA Pervasive Persuasion starring, Gary Baseman, Simone Legno, and Tim Biskup. This was right after our panel discussion. Moderating something like this actually turned out to be easier than I thought. Each introduced themselves and their work and that alone took up a lot of time. They said great things about where they are in their careers, how they sort of got there, and how Murakami influences their work. I think the latter was somewhat important since that's one of the reasons this event took place.

Another reason it took place was that before Murakami's show even went up, he got together with the folks at Moca and mentioned that he'd like me to be involved with an event. What an honor. So that's how it all got going. But really, MOCA made it happen. We brainstormed the event, but in the end, they staffed it with an army, and all of the logistics were theirs too. The reason I know they did well was neither I or the artists had anything to stress out about. They absorbed it all and evidently there was a mountain of problems, but we never saw them or noticed them.

Well over 400, maybe closer to 500 came through. That's Simone sitting, Baseman standing, and a huge crowd of attentive listeners. One of the things that we didn't get to talk about more, and that was on my list of things to talk about was the fact that Los Angeles seems to be a hot place for art right now. Will people look at LA in 20 years and say wow, that's a huge run of great artists who were working here at the time? Are we in a hot moment? That's something that would have been nice to talk about since we're in LA, but maybe it's old news, and they already know and maybe that's why they came to hear these three speak. Or maybe it's something that just has to continue. An hour+ blew by quick, and in the end, I had an arsenal of questions to go.

Things got esoteric later in the night. That's Baseman painting on Oguri, the Butoh dancer. Butoh dancers move slow, and it was funny to see Gary being so patient and painting slowly. Gary ended up with a weird line of paint on his face. He actually painted a character on Oguri's head. Yeah, it was arty.

Piggy back butoh, and that's Gary painting more. In the end, the crowd respected Butoh, but I think it started with some trepidation. That's something MOCA should be proud of. While prepping for the event a bit in December, I think we all had skepticism of this part. Tim Biskup did a great job in creating the sound for it, and it meshed perfect. I think Tim's talent in music is probably well underrated. Tim told me that Oguri spoke with him afterwards and said, "I think we were in the same place."

That's a fella from the London Police, he was just there drawing. His drawings eventually became something people wanted by the end of the night. He was just visiting LA.

Displays like this were out there, and I'm surprised, it all stayed in tact by the end of the night. I think there was a leap of faith to leave it out there pretty unprotected. There was original art in the background as well. I don't know why it wasn't hung, but there must have been a good reason. Products were an important part of the event, since that's an important part of Murakami's work. Oddly the MOCA store and the LV store was closed. I think the MOCA store would have made a bundle. These weren't broke kids. The event cost $15 for members and $20 if you weren't.

That's Tim who DJ's without headphones. It's pretty awesome he can do it. One of the reasons why he's good at it, is that Tim played in bands as a drummer, and did some vocal MCing. He knows music well and can sort of see it with the soundwaves.

People were invited to just add to the art. As you saw in the performance photo, they were cut into pieces and given away. There's plenty more photos below and many more on the way. I had to mix photos between 4 cameras, and some will be sent to me later.

Afterwards, we went to Oiwake. They look mellow, but this was just the start. We left at 1:30. Tim looks mellow, but sake bombs happened. Oiwake's food might be rated near nightmare levels. It was amazing how frozen the sashimi was. But the atmosphere is crazy on saturday, and everyone was super happy.

My day actually began with a panel discussion at 2pm at JANM next door. The show closes today. It was mellow, and not as packed at the MOCA event, but it went well.



There's a bunch of pics by Michelle Matthews and some by me here.