The event attracted fans galore and an eclectic variety of celebrity. Black Starr, Audrey Napoleon, Michale Trevino, Project X, Infected Mushroom and other notables graced the red carpet to clicking cameras and flashing bulbs. Paris (Hilton) stole the show sending a handful of Snooki wannabes into pandemonium.

Inside the club, Dim Mak‘s Datsik plays dub step tracks while one dollar bills rained down from the Supperclub ceiling (kinda weird, I know). Strangely, a single floats across my face into my hands like manna from heaven. “I’m not to proud too let it drop to the floor,” I think to myself as the Aerial artists begin to lower from above.

Aoki enters the stage to the siren of screaming girls. His set builds progressively as does the intensity of the dancing and drinking. People are having a blast. As the music pumps, Aoki asks the crowd if they want to be in a picture with him to commemorate the moment. He then leans back over the dj table with arms wide open with and poses for a shot with the throbbing Supperclub.

Check out Steve Aoki’s Ladi Dadi featuring Wynter Gordon below. “Wonderland” now available on iTunes.

Words by Mike Bucher (@labuche4). Photos by Catie Laffoon (@CatieLaffoon)

Started in NYC by Improv Everywhere eleven years ago, the event has been gaining popularity ever since – so much so that a staggering 27 countries took part in Sunday’s festivities.

Multiple thousands of pantsless pranksters swamped subways all over the world, with LA’s participants -boxers, briefs and thongs on proud display- nearing 400 as they gathered at downtown’s Union Station to alternating amusement and dismay of unsuspecting bystanders, then rode the Red Line to Hollywood and Vine.

The official mission statement instructed “agents” to behave naturally and to answer inquiries with nonchalant ease, which became increasingly difficult as their numbers grew. When time came to pile into a train and head to Hollywood, the northbound Red Line was filled almost entirely with bottomless Angelinos.

Costumed heroes and villains faced serious competition as the raucous mob descended onto the Walk of Fame, while tourists wasted no time snapping away with every manner or photo-device imaginable. Even Mickey couldn’t resist a stolen glimpse.

Words and photos by Zoetica Ebb (@Zoetica)

If you’d like to see pictures of the show, I didn’t take any. I borrowed the one above from the LA Weekly and you can see a whole gallery of great pics from them here.  Most of the performance was entirely back lit and I can’t say the band was that interested in breaking a sweat (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Unlike my husband, who is a gigantic fan, I give a heartfelt nod to their genius but could have sat this one out. Half of the music was obscure b-sides of which even the die-hard fans had trouble nodding along. I did, however enjoy their stand out opus, Doolittle intensely and it was one of the main reasons that I, myself owe a debt of gratitude to the charming Kim Deal, as all female bass players must. But as far at the overall show went, well it could’ve gone better. Maybe it was my hurty shoes, or perhaps the way they almost laugh at the crowd from the stage. It’s like Kim smiles the entire time in disbelief… that they still get paid for doing this after all these years.

Words by Barbie Brady

I spent the day hanging out with bassist Bryan Kienlen and he filled me in on the challenges of this adventure. For example, on night number 4 they play the Gold Record, my personal favorite by the way (“The Pizza Song” has horns on it). They don’t normally travel with a horn player, let alone bringing one out for just one song on one night. So they reached out to their fans in each city and asked if anyone wanted to come up and play this one song with them. How incredible for the guys who responded. You never thought that trumpet you learned in high school would get you on stage at the Troubadour playing with a punk band did you?

And that’s just one of the super cool things that the Souls do for their fans. They are ultra personable, accessible and generous of both time and spirit. I’ve never seen them turn down a fan request, or hustle out the door after a gig. In fact there is a photo gallery on their website entirely devoted to fans who have a Bouncing Souls tattoo, and there are plenty of them.

Bryan spent the afternoon tattooing a few more fans at the opening of Perri Ink Cartel on Melrose. Followed by an intimate in-store performance at Soundcheck Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. Even though they were in town for 4 nights in a row, most of the crowd was there for all 4, each with a different opening band. I was fortunate enough to get to see Kevin Seconds (of 7 Seconds) play his acoustic set at the Saturday show. It was like a love letter to my teenage self.

This coming January the Bouncing Souls will head back into the studio to record their next punk rock opus of epic proportions. You can count on ChinaShop being there. Next time they come to town… we’ve got dibs.

Words by Barbie Brady

The Electric Daisy Festival is quickly turning out to be the newest Coachella— a massive music extravaganza that has tapped the mainstream pulse of a nation’s youth, drawing in fans by more and more thousands each year.

But did you know it’s also likely to incite mass chaos and rioting in the streets – especially if those punk-ass raver kids ain’t happy?

With its official Grauman’s Chinese Theater debut, the premiere of The Electric Daisy Festival documentary was supposed to be a real red carpet gala affair, more a cause for celebration amongst the filmmakers/ festival planners/make-up artists/clowns/sfx coordinators/CGI people.

Coming from across town, it took over an hour to get there. Multiple helicopters flew within an eerily-close proximity of one another. Rumors abounded as to what could be causing the backup: Lady Gaga block party, Live set from EDF star DJ Kaskade, The I Love Lucy Turns 60! exhibit at the Hollywood Musuem… turned out that they were right on all counts. Tourists, denizens and L.A.’s finest, all colliding in a chaos just as I arrived.

Despite tweeting earlier in the day, “”Me+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!! RT!”, DJ Kaskade ended up canceling his set – especially when EDF fans flooded the boulevard, pelting cops with bottles and doing that move that makes it look like they’re picking apples. One guy reportedly taunted police, and the police shot him, as well as a few others, with a beanbag gun.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of vandalism — looking down upon the boulevard, you could see that one of the shops had been completely trashed – but otherwise it just looked like a lot of garbage, everywhere.

The end result: hundreds of people basically standing on top of one another to get a view of riot police, who’d been called in to disperse the ruffians in the streets. Ruffians who did little else than lie down on the street in defiance and/or taunt police – sort of a like bunch of raver Eddie Haskells taunt Kevlar-wearing Beavs. Altamont this ain’t, though it was the first time I might have ever felt something resembling a dash of sympathy for a cop.

But honestly all you have to do is Google ‘Electric Daisy Festival’ and one of the first headlines you’ll read is “LAMEST RIOT EVER!” After the crowds had dispersed, even gawkers had to agree. More pity to the schmucks who are going to have to clean up all this trash.

As for the premiere, it looked fantastic, and exciting, and like the people behind the whole thing had put a hell of a lot of work into it. But the actual festival has been marred with some serious bad luck lately – from a young girl’s accidental death to a few drug overdoses, and a consequential relocation to Vegas as a result. Hopefully this will end the drama; the festival itself should be the reason for commotion, not a few kids throwing tantrums.

View the trailer to the Electric Daisy Carnival Experience below

Words by Jeff Nau. Photos by Lisa Johnson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0uEwlSoJp4

In the country, hell, the world, few other music stores know how to have as much fun as Amoeba. You go there, you remember why there’s no more Waxie Maxie’s, no more Tower. You have an Amoeba, you’re gold.

And what began as a novelty in 2007 — hardcore vinyl fans uniting to officially salute the lo-fi music of their youth — has grown into a global phenomenon, with Amoeba in Hollywood possibly among the best places to go and celebrate. This year, Henry Rollins was on hand to DJ, sign some stuff, talk with fans, and even inspect tattoos.

Despite the fact that there’s about a million mp3 players out there, it’s good to see so many people remain loyal to analog. I don’t own a record player, though I still have some leftover vinyl from my youth (if you’re looking to sell yours, let me know). When I was a kid working at a record store outside DC, friends would stop by and we would turn up the hi-fi, and have ‘metal minutes’– 60 seconds to trash all the scratched records, stomp on scratched CDs, or torn posters as quickly as we could to DRI or Overkill or “Detachable Penis” by King Missle. Ah, the carefree days of youth.

Point is, if you’ve never been to Amoeba and are anywhere in the state of California, you don’t know what you’re missing. And on Record Store Day, Henry Rollins was there to spin some of his favorite stuff — The Ruts’ “Staring at the Rude Boys” and an acapella version of Queen’s “Killer Queen” among the highlights. In between spins, there was plenty of time to watch him awkwardly converse with fans.

Outside the store, a lengthy line formed, packed with fanatical fans anxious to get their greedy mitts on specially priced and rare edition vinyl: A split release between Green Day and Husker Du, a limited release of Rush’s new stuff, and a limited release of “The Fall” by Gorillaz.

Words and Photos by Jeff Nau

What was it like have that first slot on the Main Stage on Day One?

Johan Bogeli: We weren’t sure how it would be, but there were people out there. A lot more than I expected, so that was very reassuring and made it a lot more fun.

This isn’t your first time playing Coachella.

Johan Bogeli: Second time. 2004 was our first time.

Blake Miller: We played in one of the tents right before the Pixies came on. So our tent was full, and then right when the Pixies went on, the back half emptied out. We were like, “Well, the Pixies haven’t played in like, what, 15 years? It’s hard to blame everybody. I’d want to be there too!

Now that your set it done, who do you want to see?

Blake Miller: Well, Chris is a huge music nerd so he’s all about Erykah Badu and Wire and Suede. We’re all music nerds, but some of us look forward to seeing acts like that—legacy acts. Then I’m more trying to see bands like Tame Impala and Crystal Castles. We all bond together on our love of music, but we have very individual tastes and preferences.

Johan Bogeli: I want to see the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, but I will not be able to.

Why not?

Johan Bogeli: Because they’re playing right now.

Whoops.

Johan Bogeli: It’s okay.

Is it just me, or is the LA scene expanding at an exponential rate these days? There’s always been good music, but it feels like the growth has been rampant over the last five or six years. You guys have been in the mix for a minute. What’s your take?

Blake Miller: Yeah, it’s sort of like the big bang happened in LA.

Do you dig on what’s happening now?

Blake Miller: It’s kinda hard because we’re such busy guys. We’re always writing or rehearsing or recording, so we’re not the punk rock kids who are 19 and at every show, but we still feel connected because those are our roots. When we were 19, we were at every show and all of our friends were at every show, so it’s nice to see everything go from the underground to front page news. Bands who used to play to crowds at underground spaces like The Smell are suddenly on Pitchfork, or bands who were playing house parties for fun suddenly have the whole world’s attention. Like you said, six or seven years ago, people were looking to Europe or New York or Australia for cutting edge trends or innovative ideas. I feel like now the pendulum has swung back and there’s a really solid base in LA of really imaginative talent.

How does that make you feel?

Blake Miller: I kinda feel like Father Christmas or something. (Laughs)

Johan Bogeli: I know we’re inspired some kids.

Blake Miller: Our publicist back in the day, who was working for Vice, told me that when Bloc Party came over to the States for the first time, the first band they asked her about was Moving Units. “Are they cool? What are they like?” The singer from Cut Copy came up to me at a bar in LA and was like, “We were at your show in Melbourne and we decided to start a band after we saw you play.” I was like, wow, that’s kinda cool. It was nice to get that genuine recognition.

Okay, pop quiz time. How many bands with the color black in the name can you list in 10 seconds?

Chris Hathwell: Black Sabbath, Black Lips, Black Keys, Black Flag, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, God Speed You Black Emperor.
Times up! Not bad, not bad.

Words by Rich Thomas. Photos by Dustin Downing.

“Something Relevant” was the next band up and energized the entire festival. The young and the old got on their feet to dance to this incredibly solid group equipped with keys, a sax, and grooving band members. A catchy tune laughing about catching malaria at a BBQ got smiles all around. “Petri Dish Project” followed with fusion style music and included a guest singing appearance by popular actress Monica Dogra.

The heavy metal ditties of “Pentagram” came next and got the audience packed with fist pumpers and thrashing moshers. The lead singer of the band, Vishal Dadlani is one of the leading music composers for Bollywood and produced a huge turnout of fans. At the end of the day the festival was a huge hit and left the audience stuffed, drunk and happy. The event was so well organized, one could forget they weren’t at an established event in Hollywood or San Diego.

What really made the night stand out was the family atmosphere. Grandparents down to grandkids came out to enjoy the shows and experience the festival together and it was an amazing sight to see.  Next time a festival comes into town, you might think about giving granddad a call because as Sulafest has shown, even the old folks can party down!

Words and photos by Beth Stirnaman

After the waiting period surpassed, an announcer came on the intercom. “Roxy Theater do you know what time it is? Welcome to the stage, Nikka Costa.” The band assembled on stage and Nikka walked out in a sparkly black dress, one shoulder strategically exposed, and hot leather pants. Her feather earrings hung just below her fiery bouncing curls as she dove into performance mode.

Nikka’s an entertainer for sure. She demands audience involvement and knows just the right thing to say to captivate a post work energy-drained crowd. After several of her signature groovy tunes, she addressed the sea of people in front of the stage. “Happy New Year LA. How many people are glad 2011 is over? Cheers!” The crowd clapped and sang along to favorites like “Keep Pushin’,” “Everybody Got Their Something,” as well many songs off the new album.”

After apologizing for being away in Europe all summer, Nikka said that coming back to The Roxy was like putting on an old slipper, which she might very well have needed after the show was over considering the height of her colossal heels. My favorite part of the evening had to be when she engaged the crowd in a mandatory guys versus gals sing-a-long session. Her sales pitch for getting the men to sing was mysteriously successful: “Men, gentleman, brothers. I wanna hear how big your balls are. If you are standing next to a woman you wanna get with then don’t scare her off. Nobody wants to be with no wimpy ass man. I hate that!” The girls proceeded to egg the boys on by chanting, “You ain’t getting none of that,” to which Nikka was very pleased.

Another treat for fans was when Nikka jumped on the drum kit and thumped into a peppy tribal beat before getting up and exclaiming, “Let’s talk about how I didn’t break my ass!” Her band, to her request, “got funky” many times throughout the set and the audience found jumping around and working up a sweat to be a common occurrence throughout the show. Before Nikka left the stage, she made sure to express her pure appreciation for the audience. “You guys are awesome. I think you should all sleep with each other.”

Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Dustin Downing

The Open Daybook exhibit opened to a full house on January 6 and is one of the attractions currently on display at LACE. Curator David P. Earle assigned a single calendar day to 365 artists and allotted each artist twenty-four hours to complete their piece.

The resulting art was compiled into The Open Daybook – “both a compilation of original artwork and a functional perpetual calendar.” 180 of these pieces are showcased in the exhibit, and the rest can be seen in the actual Daybook, published through and available for purchase through the LACE store.

The show does an amazing job of showcasing that wonderful sense of immediacy that appears when time constraints are imposed on an artist. Executed in an abundance of mediums and hung in chronological order, most of the exhibited pieces really feel like intimate snapshots of days, moods, and flashes of internal dialogues – at once private and ubiquitous.

The Open daybook exhibit is up until February 06, in addition to a bunch of other interesting events  LACE is hosting in January and February – check out the calendar here and pay this art hub a visit.

6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
t: 323.957.1777

Words and Photos by Zoetica Ebb.