Celebration of the Chinese New Year is a big deal in New York City. Thousands of people gather in downtown Manhattan, crammed along the skinny streets, clutching miniature fireworks. After the parade, families crowd into restaurants, to scoff dumplings & drink tea. It’s no surprise, though: Chinatown in Manhattan is the biggest enclave of Chinese people in the entire Western hemisphere!

On Sunday morning, I wriggled my way into the front of a crowd lining Mott Street to catch a glimpse of the dragon. The gathering was terrifically diverse, with teeny-tiny Chinese girls sitting on their fathers’ shoulders, solemn-looking senior citizens, & slightly confused tourists! As we waited for the festivities to begin, the quiet murmur of the crowd would be punctuated by a wicked snap-crackle-pop, & an explosion of glitter & confetti from a popper would fly up into the sky. A man carrying rainbow-hued cotton candy walked up & down the crowded pathways. Mickey Mouse, Cookie Monster, & a man in drag with a bright green beard walked the parade route, presumably to entertain us while we waited…

Suddenly, the drums started to play, & the dragons followed. Lurching towards us & soaring over the crowd, they fluttered their big eyes at us & darted from side to side. Everyone reached out to touch the dragons, tried to call them over & get closer. In Chinese culture, they believe that loud drums combined with dragons dancing can defeat evil spirits. It’s a way of cleansing before the new year!

Flocks of girls in traditional costume walked past, followed by a gathering of families with adopted Chinese children. There were balloons, Chinese & American flags, & Snoopy made an appearance, too.  Every new float or gaggle of people elicited excited cheers from the crowd, even when Chuck Schumer — New York Senator — came past. A Chinese woman walked beside him, talking into his ear, & he would repeat whatever she said into a bullhorn!

It was surreal & delightful. A lot of us in the crowd had no idea who most of the people were, or even what their signs said, but we cheered anyway. It just felt right, & so good to be there!  We all went home with happy hearts & confetti in our hair.

From New York City to wherever you are: 吉慶有餘 ! Or, may your happiness be without limit!

Words by Gala Darling (@galadarling). Photos by Lydia Hudgens (@lydiahudgens).

Love, founder of Love Manor, a Halloween setup inspired by the likes of Disney’s Haunted Mansion, is known for his annual bashes. Each year, he carefully selects his party spot, making sure that it will fulfill his requirements for his décor and theme ideas. This year was no exception, as Love took over a historic mansion dating back to 1912 known as the Mrs. Susan Wilshire Residence. Recognized as being used in the movie Cheaper By the Dozen and as the residence of Jessica Lange’s character on American Horror Story, the Wilshire mansion was the perfect location for this year’s Haunted Bayou-themed Love Manor.

A lot of time was involved in setting up the Haunted Bayou. Love, who began working on the concept last spring, explains that this year’s party took longer to prep versus prior years. Months of hard work involving concept art, planning, and construction paid off as the party was exquisite. Love sparred no expense, as this was definitely the Halloween gathering of the year. We could write books about our experience at the Haunted Bayou but in the effort of keeping in simple, here is our basic rundown:

Walking up to the party, we spotted The Southern California Ghostbusters. They had parked their ride in the driveway and were patrolling the perimeter, demonstrating the power of their proton packs. The front yard of the mansion was outfitted in tombstones and a green-lit hue fell over the front of the house. The white wrap around porch featured a photo booth by Red Cheese (www.redcheese.com), which was manned by a hooded figure in a giant pumpkin head. The backyard was home to a New Orleans-inspired bayou complete with lanterns and voodoo artwork. Inside, the living room was decorated in hanging Chinese paper lanterns. Guests danced on top a Persian rug as Captain Jeffrey’s Musical Chumbuckets wailed away on a washboard and performed some ragtime tunes. The dining room was full of delicious treats, including a salad, which was served by boney tongs. The bar hosted a variety of signature drinks including pumpkin martinis and the delicious “Dark ‘n Stormy.” Carved pumpkins and candles adorned nearly every room. There were strategically placed spider webs, hand crafted antique-esque artwork on the walls, skeletons in the corridors, and custom furniture in virtually every corner of the house.

Attendees went all out with their costumes. The man of the hour, Mr. Love, attended the soiree as a murdered 1920’s young man. Also spotted was a Buzz Lightyear, Slash, several corpse brides, The Burger King, a sea anemone, Mary from There’s Something About Mary, a giant baby (otherwise known as ChinaShop photographer Dustin Downing), a superman and superwoman couple (aww), a cowboy, a conductor, an Indian chief, Dorothy, a zombie pimp, and the costume contest winning Mayan Warrior who was carrying around a severed head.

“The party was an absolute success! We had nearly 200 guests, all in amazing costumes and were even visited by The Southern California Ghostbusters! Everyone was so honored to be invited and hearing that they felt as if they were in Disneyland or on a movie set was great to hear. It was a blast!” explains Love.

As guests exited the Haunted Bayou, they were given a small black box secured by a black ribbon. We could tell you what was inside but in the spirit of Halloween, we’d rather entice you to use your imagination.

Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Dustin Downing.

Trailer and details follow…

Run For Your Lives allows you to run with a little extra enthusiasm — i.e., you’re being hunted by flesh-hungry zombies who want to devour you, frighteningly set in an environment that recalls the creepiest scenes in Evil Dead, or at least Deliverance. It’s more like an obstacle course, complete with walls to jump over, trees to dodge, and a log cabin…all the while protecting your “health flag.” If you’ve never visited Maryland’s finest city, ‘being in Baltimore’ is usually enough of a reason to be running in fear — but in case you’re not convinced, here’s the official quote from Reed Street Productions, who’s putting on the show:

“We’ve always been huge fans of zombie folklore and wanted to create a live-action experience that provides fans with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Ryan Hogan, managing member of Reed Street Productions. “For training, we recommend some running, along with in-depth studying of zombie movies — it’s not the fastest who will win, it’s the one that can best out-maneuver his foes.” Obviously they put more work into that than those asshats behind all those terrible Romero film remakes.

Register here. Survive, and get beer! (and food and live music too).

]]> http://www.chinashopmag.com/2011/08/run-from-zombies-in-real-life-the-5-k-zombie-marathon/feed/ 0 http://www.chinashopmag.com/2011/07/twentywonder-a-carnival-of-the-mind/ http://www.chinashopmag.com/2011/07/twentywonder-a-carnival-of-the-mind/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:21:03 +0000 Dustin Downing http://chinashop.designenginela.com/?p=62522 Continue reading →]]> I bore easily. And my team of crack doctors are not sure if that is the result of the misfiring of a couple bazillion plaque laden dendrites or more likely the result of a mind/body switch (like with Sex, Drugs, and Natalie Portman), but mine with a kitteh. So it’s not all to often I find myself as entertained as I was this past weekend at TwentyWonder. A “carnival of the mind” featuring art, science, music and comedy which collided heart first with ass kickin roller derby to benefit the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles.

The art part of the show ran the gamut. A mere $5 in one booth would find you draped in the finest thrift store fabrics that were then tailored to your philanthropic body by a professional Swingline Stapler-stress.

One wall was arranged as a mini-gallery of sorts for artist Stephanie Tapu, born with Down syndrome, whose pencil sketches impressed by reflecting an almost Cubist feel. “I really like hot dogs,” she quipped when asked about one of her pieces resembling a monolithic BBQ grill.

Science was to be gleamed by the ol’ brain with various “how to” stations set up to teach one such talents as making your own laser disco lights, stopping a martini pouring mid air, and even controlling a remote mannequin head with your head.

Thanks to the kids over at Cal Poly Pamona, there was also a table set up  for you to take pictures of yourself with big ass Australian bugs (for Facebook), or at least that’s what I did.

I was busy oogling the original Bat Mobile and missed out on the rubber chickens but alas did not miss out on Sashay Gigante. But, I can not speak of this…

What else did ya miss? Ooooo, how about a performance by Twilight rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, my buddy Ed Asner’s reading of a couple Dr. Suess books, and the R.V.I.P. lounge (Karaoke meets-RV-meets amazing) that drove us off into the sunrise.

Words and Images by Dustin Downing

ChinaShop wishes you a happy Independence Day and in the words of Katy, please feel free to “Ignite the light and let it shine just own the night like the Forth of July.”

Party on,

ChinaShop

To celebrate the U.S. launch of The Red Bulletin magazine, New Yorkers and famous athletes flocked to District 36 to party down with July’s cover girl and two-time World Champion Hurdler Lolo Jones, along with the Boston Celtics’ Rajon Rondo, Red Bull Racing NASCAR driver Brian Vickers and Dahani Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals.

NEW YORK — May 11, 2011 – Circuit boards were soldered, sheets of metal sawed methodically, voltage cranked up to a million  and of course, many things were set on fire.  Red Bull Creation’s call for submissions had been answered.  For the alarmingly innovative, the qualifier rules were simple: Assemble a team of four, build an invention which “hacks the past to create the future” while incorporating an Arduino microcontroller, film the process and submit.  From there, a panel of self-professed brainiacs would nominate the 10 most creative, most palm-to-the-forehead brilliant teams to come to New York this July, competing in a final hacker showdown.

From coast-to-coast, metal shops and hackerspaces, basement studios and hobby labs lit up with creativity incarnate. And the results were…intimidating. Mining through submissions was no simple feat — but in the end, 10 teams proved themselves the clear frontrunners.  Though this proving ground is far from over.

THE DETAILS UNVEILED (ALMOST)

From July 7 – 10, Red Bull Creation touches down at a top secret hackerspace workshop deep in the heart of Brooklyn; First with a high-pressure test of ingenuity, and then followed by a live spectator event on July 10 in McCarren Park in Brooklyn, NY.  On Day 1, each team will receive the definitive build topic. (What’s the fun in telling you now?) For the next 72 hours, teams will be thrown smack into the middle of a marathon of high stakes innovation. At the end of Day 3, the three teams with the most mind-blowing of inventions will not only be the proud new owners of tools valued up to $10,000 but that same amount in cash will be distributed amongst the winning teams as well.

THE JUDGES

When gauging the work done by a wild pack of engineers, architects, coders and visual artists, you need a panel of a similar ilk. Which is precisely why these judges were at the helm of the qualifying process.

Starting with Simone Davalos, one of the key components behind the robotic mayhem and destruction of cult hit, Robogames. Flash Hopkins–who instantly gets the award for Coolest Name of the Decade–the Harvard-studied co-founder of Burning Man.  Rebel inventor, Hackett; NYU professor and subject of his very own Science Channel show “Stuck With Hackett.” And oh right, Glenn Derene, Senior Technology Editor at do-it-yourself go-to resource, Popular Mechanics magazine.

THE FIRST TEN TEAMS

That’s right, as of right now, only 10 of the 16 teams are being announced. The other 6? Let’s call it something of a Wild Card pulled from an existing talent pool of makers, hackers, and inventors throughout the United States to keep things interesting.
Meanwhile, familiarize yourself with some of the competition:

i3Detroit — Detroit, MI: In the past, this team of engineers built a car in the shape of a Twinkie that (of course) fires those delicious golden pastries from a built-in Twinkie rocket launcher. Though it was their creation and submission of the “ChronoTune,” a digitally-controlled vintage radio that allows you to tune into different points in time that sealed the deal. SkyMall, ya snooze, ya lose on not carrying this one.

Donner Party 2.0 — Truckee, CA: Perhaps the most ominously-named team in competition, this motley crew of metal artists, skiers and “enginerds” built themselves a 21st century grandfather clock that catapults fireballs from its head — the number of fireballs corresponding to the hour on the clock.  Functionally realistic? Maybe not so much. The perfect gag gift needed to scare the bajeezus out of Grandma? Most definitely.

North Street Labs — Portsmouth, VA: Donning the name of the hackerspace from whence they came, these four circuitry experts qualified by putting the most work into something that champions the utmost laziness: “The American Dream.” You’ve guessed it: a motorized hammock on wheels.

Innovation Thirst — Greenville, TX: A festive bunch of mechanical and electrical engineers, these fellas have gone and invented every party’s new best friend: “The Pourmaster Pro” — a robotic kegerator that detects the size of a glass and does the pouring for you. Also birthing the first time “Victor 884 speed controller” and “frosty brew” will ever be used in the same sentence.

1.21 Jigawatts — Minneapolis, MN: Four Back To The Future obsessives who’ve reached into a storied tradition and flung it headlong into the 21st century. Their digital-age, GPS-tracked message-in-a-bottle allows anyone in the world to send it a text message that’s then broadcasted across all forms of social media. ‘Cause nothin’ says “I love you and I want you back” like a hash-tagged Twitter post.

hack.rva — Richmond, VA: If there’s one thing these hackers and hobbyists take seriously, it’s their Pong. Filed squarely under “How did this not exist?!,” this collective’s updated the videogame classic and created their own remote-operated live-action version. Ten bucks says a Hollywood exec buys Pong’s movie rights within the week.

23B – Fullerton, CA: Wrapping your head around this team’s Creation submission is akin to following a David Lynch plot: there are wires, pitch-perfected, homemade organ pipes and something that sends empty Red Bull cans hurtling through space. Mindboggling? Sure thing. But the execution’s impeccable.

Ruination — Rochester, NY: This crew of engineers, designers and medical scientists have banded together to develop a device crucial to the well-being of our world: An electronic dartboard tethered to bottles of booze that pours you shots upon successful (or not so successful) tosses–either way, you’re getting crunked.

Buildface –Brooklyn, NY: Buildface is four guys from Brooklyn who like to build, program, hack, take things apart and put things together.  John is a software engineer who programs user interfaces for set-top boxes; Roberto works as an iOS developer making apps for mobile devices; Aidan works in new media education at Cornell and teaches music technology; and Greg is an interactive game developer, and part Jedi.

Harford Hackerspace — Baltimore, MD: This B-More technologist collective dared to ask the ancient question “What do you get when you cross a General Radio Company Weston Model 891 DC Volts Meter with a hand-crank?” An expertly crafted audio player that plays miniature sound bites when cranked fast enough. Triple-dog-dare you guys to generate “November Rain.”

So there you have them. 10 teams aptly equipped to conquer Red Bull Creation.  Keep in the know and be on the lookout for more details soon.

Last Month’s official Truckit Fest kick off featured over 40 of LA’s best food trucks along with local designers, musicians, and artisans. Swarms of hungry citizens got in line as early as 11am; eager to try many of the trucks they’ve been unsuccessful in tracking down. Lines formed in front of popular mobile eateries such as the Calbi Truck. 98.7 blasted music from their booth, live bands entertained picnic table grazers, and, in the center of it all, a rock-climbing wall provided a quick work out in between courses.

After five minutes at the festival, I learned that circling around a herd of food trucks on an empty stomach is like going grocery shopping when you’re hungry. I wanted to eat at each and every truck and had trouble even deciding what type of cuisine I wanted. After a frustrating battle with my appetite ADD, I stumbled upon the Shrimp Pimp (@shrimppimptruck). The front of the truck had a slogan that had me at hello: “Shrimpin’ ain’t easy but it sho is fun.”

I ordered:

•    Drunken Shrimp taco – shrimp marinated in an aromatic sherry ginger, sauce sautéed and served on a tortilla

•    Shrimp Bruschetta – sautéed shrimp with a Mediterranean tomato sauce served on toasted French bread and topped with feta cheese and basil

Round two took me to Crepes Bonaparte (@CrepesBonaparte) where I set my sights on a crepe filled with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas. $1 extra for a scoop of ice cream on top and I was on my way to pure ecstasy.

After I had successfully warned off the hunger pains, I was able to walk around and mingle with the food truck owners in a rational mind set. So many trucks had gathered at Union Station for the event, but here are the highlights:

•    The Munchie Machine – If you were a stoner with the munchies, this would be your go-to truck. They serve a variety of grilled sandwiches like a chili cheese fries sandwich and sinful treats such as the Scooby Snack (peanut butter and jelly sandwich with S’mores in the middle with the option to upgrade your marshmallow to caramel, coconut, or cinnamon flavor). (@munchiemachine1)

•    Mac ‘n Roll – I didn’t know so many varieties of macaroni and cheese existed. The best part of this truck is the option to order the “Mac ‘n Roll,” which is any flavor of mac ‘n cheese deep-fried in a spring roll. (@macnrolltruck)

•    The Greasy Weiner – This truck pretty much serves what you think it would but kudos to them for having an awesome name. (@thegreasywiener)

•    Maui Wowi – The owners of this truck made sure that I didn’t walk away without trying their entire menu of smoothies. I also promised to make note of the fact that EVERY smoothie contains a banana. (@MauiwowiLA)

•    Tornado Potato – The truck’s “Tornado Potatoes” were very popular among the food truck festival-goers. People walked around nibbling at these succulent stacks of potato chips on a skewer. Flavor options include sweet with cinnamon and sugar, sausage, and with white truffle oil. (@mytornadopotato)

•    Clean Street Food truck was handing out delicious samples of their fresh culinary selections. Their food was great but it was the Irish car bomb cupcakes from their dessert menu that grabbed my attention. They have Bailey’s and whiskey inside! (@cleanstreetfood)

•    Jose O’Malley’s – This colorful truck offered karaoke and prominently displayed their “A” letter grade in the window. Since the law passed that food trucks have to have letter grades, those with the A’s were proud and the Jose O’Malley’s crew decided to accent theirs by putting arrows and thumbs up designs around their “A.” (@joseomalleys)

•    Yalla – If you like hummus and falafel, find this truck. The hummus is the best I’ve tasted. The owner’s daughter told me that they make it all fresh on the truck and it has to pass an official taste test of the family before it gets served to the public. (@YallaTruck)

•    The Dosa Truck serves delicious Indian sourdough crepes with an eclectic twist, such as the popular Ganesha’s Gluttony (Black olive tapenade, feta, tomato, spinach sandwich) (@dosatruck)

•    Le Fashion Truck provided eaters with time to digest while browsing through their truck full of clothing. They opened up the back and hosted a variety of customers inside. Shopping quarters were tight though and there was a limit as to how many could climb into the truck at once. (@Lefashiontruck)

•    Last but not least, a curve ball at the event was the Real Bug booth.  A man was selling beetle filled rings, scorpion necklaces, and starfish and spider paperweights. Real insects at a food festival? I personally didn’t see the connection but the merchandise was definitely unique. (www.realcoolbug.com)

For more information on upcoming Truckit Fests and to purchase tickets, visit: www.truckitfest.com

Tickets Prices:
General Admission: $5
VIP: $45 (Valet Parking, 10am admission, Private Lounge, Table Service (No Waiting in Lines), $10 food voucher)

Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Sidney Bensimon.

Start sparkin’ together those jumper wires, fire up the LED’s, make sure the power tools are on their chargers. From July 7 – 10, 2011, a soon-to-be-disclosed location in NYC will be turned into the ultimate hackerspace and serve as the laboratory for Red Bull Creation. For 72 hours, you’ll be thrown smack into the middle of a marathon of high stakes innovation. New York will become your playground as you roam the streets of the city and the alleys of your imagination, tapping into parts of the brain you’ve never heard of (or strike that, you’re the inventor here, you probably know way more about that than we do.)

On the final day, the event culminates in a live exhibition and show for all of New York to see. One catch: you won’t know the build topic until the first tick of those 72 hours. You want a shot at the glory? You’ve got to qualify first at www.redbullusa.com/creation, but before you do anything, read on and watch the intro video below.

CREATE THE FUTURE

This contest isn’t about you holding an invention above your head, wearing a gold medal and bragging to all your friends back home that you’re the next John Logie Baird. Nope, it’s about you and three other people doing that — together.

So on March 25, the floodgates will open for online registration. But in order to register, you’ve got to assemble a team of 4 people total.

You may be a surgeon in the art of soldering, but what do you know about spectralizer kits? And so you’re the next Frank Lloyd Wright. What’s the phrase “rotary encoder” mean to you? Exactly. You’re not doing this on your own — you need a team. For the sake of this competition, “DIY” translates to Do It Yourselves.

On April 8, a preliminary build topic will be released. You and your team have until April 24 to get it together and submit the freshest invention possible. But listen up: Be absolutely sure to upload photos and videos of your journey — you’ve got to show your creative process. A diverse panel of experts is standing by as the official judges for the entries. From here, the 16 teams with the most original ideas will be selected for a run at Red Bull Creation — AKA The Big Time.

THIS IS YOUR CREATION

You make it to July 7 and your team’s collective creativity takes center stage. You can be Johnny Lee Miller & Angelina Jolie in Hackers, rollerblading through traffic and shifting mainframes — or you can be Val Kilmer and the prodigy guy who lives in his closet from Real Genius, redirecting lasers towards giant piles of Jiffy Pop. In our opinion, both teams were awesome. You think you can replicate those levels of brilliance? Then gather the strongest team possible and hardwire these rules and dates into your brain:

Rule #1: Like algebra, you need to show your work. Posting a video of your creation is a must during the online registration process that starts March 25. It should include an introduction of your creation and how you made it. All team members must be in the final submitted video.

Rule #2: We said it before and we’ll say it again: You must be a team of four.

Rule #3: You must nominate a team Captain to be in charge of all team correspondence.

Rule #4: This competition is open to residents of the U.S. ages 18 and up.

Rule #5: You must be ready for your 15 minutes of fame. You may be on television. We plan on sharing the brainchild of your creative genius with the world. We hope you’re okay with that.

Rule #6: You must be willing to travel to New York this summer, whether Red Bull gives you a travel stipend or not. So be sure to pencil in July 7-10 on your calendar as “Days I take over the world.”

Rule #7: Consider repurposing material in your creation. Brainpower is stronger than spending power anyway. And using objects that have a story behind them always adds intrigue.

Rule #8: Only one submission per team is allowed.

Rule #9: Your submission must be uploaded by midnight PST on April 24.

Rule #10: You agree to all of the legal terms and conditions at www.redbullusa.com/creation when you register. And complete the release form.

Rule #11: Bask in the creative process!

And those dates:

March 25: The official Red Bull Creation site and mobile app are launched. (That’s right — register your team straight from your smartphone.)

April 8: Preliminary build topic announced

April 24: Deadline for all build submissions is midnight PST.

Meanwhile, straight from the mouth of one of the masters:

“I love that Creation is focused on re-using existing parts to create something new and awesome.  Contests like this help show people how much they’re capable of, and working with a team under a tight deadline is often the best venue for creativity and learning. I’m excited to see what the teams create, but even more so to see the creativity and collaboration that happens during the contest!” — Eric Skiff, Co-Founder, NYC Resistor.

Don’t wait. Register your team now.

Good Luck to all!

Here in Austin, there’s just as much good stuff happening on the street corners and outside of venues as there is on the inside. From dawn to dusk and beyond, it’s nothing but end-to-end music, which leaves very little time to remove oneself from the slipstream and relax. That’s where ChinaShop comes in. We’ve always fancied ourselves as purveyors of good taste, communicating the best of what’s out there straight to your computer monitor, but this week we thought we’d go the extra mile provide a tangible service to the band’s themselves. The music makers. The dreamers of dreams. So here’s what we did.

With a little help from our good friends at the Roxy Theatre and Fox Head, we put together our very own ChinaShop Austin Survival Bag; over 250 of them, to be exact. We then setup a folding table outside the Rusty Spurs at around 11am and started doling out our wares to bands that were loading in for their sets. Then we caught bands who were wrapping up their gigs at other nearby venues. Then tour vans started pulling off the road and double-parking just to get in on the action.

Trust me, you wanted this bag, and if you were a band playing multiple shows a day—we’re talking to you, Vanaprasta—you needed this bag. Inside was a veritable smorgasbord of survival goodies: Red Bull Energy Shots, a copy of the Red Bulletin, a three-pack of black socks and a svelte toiletry bag (courtesy of Fox), a roll of toilet paper, water, lip balm, deodorant, ear plugs, a Sharpie, a toothbrush, a pack of Advil, a prophylactic, some Roxy guitar picks, a bottle of water, and fresh ChinaShop t-shirt that even your most fashion-conscious emo friend would be happy to don. If there’s one thing I’ve learned running around this city for the past 48 hours, it’s that only the strong survive, and it’s really easy to get smelly, dehydrated, uncomfortable and bombarded with noise. Thus, the bag is your friend, and because of its coolness, we now have a lot of new friends, too.

The Ornery Little Darlings were nice enough to kick us down with not one but two amazing posters that will no doubt make it onto our office wall. Thomas Wynn and the Believers put on an amazing show; some of the best vocal harmony and harmonica blowing I’ve heard since I’ve been here. I caught a little bit of the Smiles’ set, which, true to their band name, gave me a nice little lift in the good spirits department. I’ve been listening to their Hermosa EP all morning in the hotel room. For a two-piece, yOya really impressed, mashing up acoustic guitar melodies, some groovy piano, and programmed beats spouting out of their MPC. These guys have a Jeff Buckley-type falsetto thing going on that’s absolutely beautiful to behold. Way bigger than the small stage they played on. According to one bartender, LA’s own Vanaprasta had the best performance of the afternoon, but if you’ve been reading your ChinaShop, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’ve been talking them up for a while now.
By the time we handed out our last bag, we’d shot over 25 bands. We also had them fill out our very own ChinaShop Mad Lib, which you’ll get a chance to read a bit later in the week. Not bad for an afternoon’s worth of work.

Words by Rich Thomas. Photos by Dustin Downing.