Featured Gallery Music Tribute to a Hollywood Icon: Slash Day
September 1, 2010 - 3:43 pm
There is no disputing the fact that Slash is legendary, iconic, renowned…(I’m stopping before this all goes to his head). He’s as part of the history of West Hollywood as the Sunset Boulevard street sign itself and as a result is this year’s Sunset Strip Music Festival official honoree. Tonight at the House of Blues, photographers and press crammed like cattle behind a velvet rope to await the arrival of the man himself to his very own tribute party. As we waited for Slash, a stream of important people began to trickle down the red carpet to occupy our time. Carpet walkers included Lemmy Kilmister, Billy Boy from Poison, Warner Drive, Cherry Bomb, Twilight’s Boo Boo Stewart, Blowing up the Moon, Dan Black, Nic Adler, Franky Perez, Acidic, Kenny Aronoff, The Shrills, Juke Kartel, Kevin Brown, Diamond Lane, David George Band and more. After much anticipation, Slash made his way out of a black SUV and through the mob of press, fully done up in true Slash style – the hat, black clothing, a t-shirt with a bikini girl standing in front of a luxury car, dark shades, etc… Speaking of shades, I laughed as several photographers tried to haggle people like Kenny Aronoff into taking off their sunglasses for a photo opp and were very unsuccessful. Most of these refusers must have shared Kenny’s reason for rockin’ their shades, which was, as he laughed and explained, “I don’t want to take my glasses off, I look like shit.”
5.00 (3 votes)
Loading ...Gallery Music Tutu Sweeney & the Brothers Band Grace Red Bull Studios
September 1, 2010 - 11:56 am
Being at Red Bull Studios in Santa Monica is an audiophile’s dream. Perfect acoustics, the best gear available, and all the Red Bull you could drink. It is especially fun when a studio like that gets put to use at the highest level, recording a full band “live.”
I walked into Friday’s session not knowing what to expect and was delighted to learn that Tutu and his gang of artist friends would be tracking the session “live.”
As the studio engineers set up the microphones and EQ the instruments, Te’Amir Sweeney (Tutu’s older brother) eases into a tasty groove. Tutu and friends join in. Tutu’s tunes are arranged, but as guitar player Michael McTaggert tells me, “They come out different every time.” The band is young, most of them circa 20 years old, but by their casual demeanor, I can tell this is probably not their first rodeo.
5.00 (2 votes)
Loading ...Gallery Music Averting Disaster, Questlove Conquers All at The Michael Jackson Tribute
August 31, 2010 - 12:35 pm
Despite endless technical difficulties and an increasingly impatient crowd, ?uestlove ducked a potentially catastrophic performance at The Bay Salone Friday with the help of some of his fellow and equally Mac-dependent DJs. He took to his Twitter account a few times to vent his frustrations:
– Shoutout to my man Darnell who is on his Mcguyverish tryna find a way to fix my effed up Mac
About an hour later, Questo was still on stage, surrounded by maybe 5 guys (including Samantha Ronson) and shaking his head woefully at the plague his laptop had unleashed upon him. The tweets continued:
– RT @SamanthaRonson: At a party in downtown where @ Questlove is spinning and DAYUM… If you’re not here, you’re not having fun.
– Moments like this is when I hate Macbookpros. Amazing I got every dj I love and respect tryna help me out here on stage
Finally, the snafus got worked out, and with the help of an amazing collage of Michael Jackson video clips and Afro-Sheen commercials, the crowd was on a Soul Train back in time to the 1970s, when Off the Wall was on the charts and The King of Pop was arguably at his best. Peanut Butter Wolf was there for a lead-in, and the show was only enhanced by its venue: 30-foot high ceilings, psychedelic slideshows, and L.A.’s finest artists, all contributing their respective visions to bring back Michael Jackson’s career at one of L.A.’s latest and greatest spots for clubbing. Vikter Duplaix’s KissNGrind, which sponsored the event, helped ensure a successful night was had.
5.00 (2 votes)
Loading ...Comic Books Gallery Chicago Comic Con: Characters of all Kinds
August 27, 2010 - 2:40 pm
“It’s a strange existence,” actor Jake Lloyd bluntly tells the Chicago Comic Con crowd about working the convention circuit. Lloyd, best known as playing young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), has largely grown out of acting and moved onto other endeavors (film editing) hence why talking about a childhood role can be so awkward. Yet Lloyd remains an avid Star Wars fan and will be forever connected to what comic con fans love: iconic characters.
The tens of thousands of attendees who poured into the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center August 19-22nd in some way were all looking to embrace the heroes and villains they grew up with. And this includes attending panels with actors like Jake Lloyd, buying dirt-cheap vintage comics, picking up a T-shirt, or recreating the characters themselves in costume. Regarding the latter, homemade Iron Man and War Machine costumes were just a sample of the incredible cosplay seen at “The Con.” A female take on a beat-down Kick-Ass also remains ingrained in my mind with her all too real make-up job.
5.00 (7 votes)
Loading ...Event Gallery Camp Hollywood Jitterbugs
August 24, 2010 - 9:37 am
While popular TV shows like Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance have taken over the airwaves, a small but vital community of retro dance enthusiasts gather for an annual tribute to the bygone era of Swing with Camp Hollywood and the National Jitterbug Championships. Armed with my Cuban heels and stockings with seams up the back, I left the Converse at home and delved into the netherworld of Lindy Hoppers.
Highlights of the weekend included a Miss Camp Hollywood bathing beauty contest, and plethora of heated dance competitions for titles in swing styles like Balboa and Shag. But easily the wildest competition was the “anything goes” underground jitterbug challenge which erupted at 2am on the Saturday night!
4.86 (7 votes)
Loading ...Event Gallery OSM Things To Do In The Ozarks
August 20, 2010 - 10:54 am
I was watching this old Bugs Bunny cartoon the other day in which Bugs goes on a vacation to Ozark Arkansas. The episode, titled “Hillbilly Hare” (made in the 50’s, hence the lack of PC) got me wondering what a trip to the Ozarks would really be like, not only as a destination, but as a vacation! I decided to do some research and see what kind of shenanigans one could get themselves into down there and It turns out there is a lot more to do than belly-flopping into the local watering hole. This is what I found.
5.00 (2 votes)
Loading ...Contributors Featured Gallery Disneyland Adventurefun
August 18, 2010 - 3:07 pm
When you get together with out-of-town friends, it best be memorable. This is precisely why I decided to join my usually remote comrades Gala, Nubby, Amy, Kevin, and Danielle at Disneyland. It had been years since my previous visit, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew there would be rides and crowds, but would I still have fun after the initial shock of color and people wore off? I wasn’t the only one wondering – I’m pretty sure I heard Gala exclaim “I can’t believe you’re at Disneyland!” at least three times. Even as a worldly maestro of advanced years I enjoyed myself, whether it was making myself dizzy on the teacup ride, marveling at the thousands of attendees, trying on very special hats, scarfing junk food, bustin’ a move at the night-time PG rave at neighboring California Adventure Park, or destroying gift shop displays with bubble gun warfare. Sure, there’s a somewhat incongruous captain Jack Sparrow inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride now, but I sort of enjoyed him. And speaking of captains, Captain Eo is back, and the new[ish] Tower of Terror ride is a tribute to The Twilight Zone, which I adore. Though I don’t see myself buying a pair of sequined mouse ears or being a season pass holder, I’m looking forward to the next time. With so many bloggers in our midst, cameras were present and plenty. Proof of adventurefuns, below!
5.00 (15 votes)
Loading ...Gallery interview Couture Cakes to Crave
August 17, 2010 - 9:45 am
“Everyone loves dessert. You could be the worst cook ever but if you pull through with dessert, you will always be popular,” states Claire Thomas, food stylist, personal chef, food photographer, blogger for The Kitchy Kitchen, and couture dolly cake baker. “I grew up always having these super wacky cakes around just because my mom is sort of an eccentric baker, as is my aunt – with both of them together, every birthday was crazy,” explains Claire Thomas as she escorts me into her kitchen at her family’s home in Brentwood. Once we arrive, sitting on the table is a China Shop inspired dolly cake – a blonde Barbie doll with frosted blue hair wearing a ball gown that is in the process of being decorated with pieces of broken white chocolate tiles in a blue and white broken china motif. Claire’s mother soon passed through the kitchen to which Claire affectionately exclaimed, “She’s the one who started this whole mess.”
4.62 (39 votes)
Loading ...Art/Design Featured Gallery GuitarTown Invades The Sunset Strip
August 13, 2010 - 1:40 pm
The Sunset Strip is sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. It has been for as long as anyone can remember. After years and years of such wear and tear, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it might need a teensy weensy bit of tender love and care. Fortunately The Sunset Strip Business Association has its back. The committee kicked off the $5.4 million Sunset Strip Beautification Project in January 2010, giving West Hollywood a facelift with improvements such as replacing faulty traffic signals, repaving the boulevard for the first time in 75 years, planting new trees, making parking meters credit card accessible, etc… The official “re-opening” of The Strip took place on Thursday, August 12th, with the unveiling of one final touch, GuitarTown, a public art project featuring 26 ten-foot tall fiberglass Les Paul model guitar sculptures that were donated by Gibson, decorated by local artists, and scattered all over the strip.
4.69 (36 votes)
Loading ...Featured Gallery New York City Graffiti perseveres in the ever-changing NYC
August 11, 2010 - 12:56 pm
Graffiti and New York City are inseparable. Regardless of how many security cameras are installed or other preventative measures enacted, there is no way to completely stop writers from leaving their names on surfaces across the expansive five boroughs. It’s a decades old tradition that not even rabid gentrification can cease. And in 2010, it’s good to see that walls, doors, street posts, and all reachable surfaces are still being hit up with style.
4.60 (5 votes)
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