Mishka is a diminutive of “Mikhail”, can be translated to “Little Bear” in Russian and happens to be the name of a streetwear company you should know about, especially if you like graphic art and cartoon eyeballs. Launched in 2003 by Ukranian expat Mikhail Bortnik and self-proclaimed toy nerd Greg Rivera, what began as a T-shirt line has grown into a lifestyle brand with shops in NYC, Tokyo and now in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood.
Stepping into Flounce, a quaint vintage shop situated on a dog-and-pedestrian-heavy stretch of Echo Park Boulevard, is like ducking into an wondrous attic.
Danny Preston (keyboardist of Future Pigeon and Whiskey Biscuit) and his wife Tiffany had no intention of starting a band in their early days of sampling beats and experimenting with electronic music together. It wasn’t until a friend requested a basement performance from the married duo that they realized they had something special that warranted being performed outside of the confines of their home.
In an exclusive interview with ChinaShop the Prestons discuss how they unintentionally stumbled upon their electronic project, Rainbow Arabia. They attempted to estimate how long they have been married, and explained that it was their dogs that brought them together.
Sadly, Culture Collide has come to an end but what a soiree it was! The four day event featured bands from all over the world, including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the good ‘ol U S of A.
The kick off party on Wednesday, October 5 featured The Rapture in a dance-worthy DJ set, a screening of “Nirvana: Live at the Paramount,” as well as the Lucie Foundation’s launch of the Composition: Visual Notes on Music, a gallery celebrating the magic of music photography.
Echo Park is the perfect place to have an art walk (preferably during the day, before the Tec-9 fire/stabbings erupt). It’s also a somewhat chaotic affair, strung throughout suburbs surrounding the local paddleboat haven/mini-tropical Watts: galleries in garages and lofts; museums in backyards, and hawkers peddling hand-crafted wares in front of their houses. Obviously it ain’t like walking into your local MOCA/MOMA, especially since the actual ‘museum’ is 2+ miles long and a good 15 degrees hotter.
And pleasantly disorienting: my accomplice and I got lost almost immediately; thank god those starving artists had child laborers to provide us with chalk drawing-maps and cotton candy!
Not many people can say that they are able to combine business with pleasure but that is very much the case for Molly Atkinson, owner of Echo Park based Pins and Needles. Molly collects vintage pinball games and also makes a living as a seamstress. After finding a prime space above Bedrock Studios that would house her massive twenty game and growing collection as well as accommodate her tailoring business, Molly decided to set up shop and thus Pins and Needles was born.
If you were born in the 80’s or anytime after, there is an outstanding chance that you owned video games. If you happen to be a part of the male species, chances are a large portion of your social festivities revolved around video games. Remember all those nights of staying up late trying to beat that level of Tetris, or cheating by putting the gun all the way to the screen to better your shot accuracy in Duck Hunt? Video games go hand in hand with childhood memories for a lot of us. I know I personally owned a Nintendo, SEGA, and Nintendo Game Cube. I played Sonic the Hedgehog for hours, secretly thought Luigi was cooler than Mario, and did my share of bragging when I beat my very first game, The Little Mermaid.