Editor: Elise Thompson
Born and raised in the great city of Los Angeles, Elise joined her dad as he took Canadian relatives on endless tours of Olvera Street, The San Antonio Winery and The Griffith Observatory. This food, culture and music-loving punk rock Angeleno wants to turn you on to all that is funky, delicious and weird in the city. While Elise holds down the fort, her adventurous alter ego Kiki Maraschino is known to roam the country in search of catfish.
Music Editor: Bob Lee
Bob Lee started interviewing bands while working in college radio and later contributed to various publications including early issues of Ben is Dead. As a drummer and singer, he has toured and recorded with bands such as Claw Hammer, Jon Wahl & The Amadans, Mike Watt and the Black Gang, Backbiter, Crawlspace, Hot Damn and Fearless Leader. He is the quiet, sneaky one of the band. When writing, Bob’s credo is, “All we have is the truth.”
Entertainment Editor: Simone Snaith
Simone Snaith is a writer and musician, living in a tiny studio with a feisty cat. She is a fan of Doctor Who, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Bat for Lashes, Wolf Parade, Kate Bush, Tumblr, Netflix, vampires, ghosts, evolution, time travel, gin, espresso, and making long lists. Her Kindle ebook “From The Ashes” is available on Amazon.
Beauty Editor: Donna Lethal
Donna Lethal writes for her own blog (Lethal Dose), PCL, The Hair Hall of Fame, Celluloid Slammer, Find A Death, Scorchy Girls, Cold Dirt Press, and has a chapter in “Weird Hollywood.” Her book, “Milk of Amnesia” is now in bookstores. She lives in John Carradine’s old apartment and spends most days dividing her time between her 90lb pit bull and her 90-something neighbor.
Health Editor: Marga Mayhew
I grew up with a mother who was convinced that vegetable oil was a diet food and walking bare foot could give you anything from a cold to cancer! After I tipped the scale over 145 (which is far too uncomfortable for my 5’2″ frame) I knew I had to do something! I’m a lover of food and being a dancer my whole life I never once thought about what was being put into my body. Once I moved to Los Angeles and stopped dancing, that slice of Baklava became my arch nemesis. So fast forward 5 years and I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been. LA definitely makes you a heath conscious person and every time you blink there’s a new health craze you just have to try! So come on that journey with me! But don’t get me wrong.. just because I know better doesn’t mean I don’t indulge. My inner fat kid is always at the dessert bar waiting for me to join her.
Art/Photo Editor: Paula Lauren Gibson/AfroPix
When my father gave me a Kodak Brownie as a child, I feel in love with photography. I have been shooting pictures ever since. I am also an avid genealogist and can trace one of my family lines back to 1620! Check out my photography at afropixphotography.com!
As a child, Nyx always wanted to be a writer and an artist and that girl on the cover of the first Sabbath album. One out of three ain’t bad! (Profile Pic by M. Randall, 2010)
On bass
Piera’s life mimics that of Paddington Bear. Born in the deepest darkest Peru, she soon found herself a stowaway, landing in London sometime thereafter. She now resides in Los Angeles where she likes attending gigs, photographing casually, and wandering about the country when time and finances permit. She also enjoys writing short self-bios- in third person of course.
Brian Michaels is a defense attorney, photographer and writer. He can be found on the web at www.socalcriminaldefense.com and brianmichaelsphoto.com
Tawny was born in Pasadena, the City of Roses, and has been soaking up the fun and sun of the Los Angeles area her entire life. Tawny’s motto is: “Why live anywhere else?” A daughter of Angeleno culture, Tawny has a passion for strange movies and music, gets a chuckle out of vintage men’s magazines, finds inspiration in a perfect cocktail, pines for the days of whimsical architecture, wonders if it would really ruin the diet to have one Thai iced tea and whispers secrets to her dog before going to sleep at night.
President of The Fun Zone; The Center for the Study of Funism.
Specializing in Mud Pie Engineering, Imagineering, Infotainment and Consultant of Stuff. Colonel of the W.L.B. (Wax lips Brigade). Obsessive compulsive participant of the Center of Competence.
Michael is the editor and main contributor to South Bay Foodies. where he scouts out and documents good eats around LA. (Besides writing and photography, Michael is also an administrator for The LA Beat and has played an integral part behind the scenes to get the site happening -Ed).
Dave Soyars
Dave Soyars is a freelance dilettante who is willing to try almost anything once. He knows a lot about very little but at least a little about almost everything.
Darlene is the curator of the Candy Wrapper Museum, which is comprised of her personal collection which she began as a teenager in the 70s. The CWM has been featured in numerous TV shows, magazines, newspapers and blogs, and made its art gallery debut in 2010 at the Scion Space’s “Palate” show.
Now I’m at work, now I’m at home, now I’m asleep, let’s wake up and write something.
Dave Travis
Dave Travis was born in Hollywood during the Summer of Love. He started videotaping punk shows when he was 15 in 1983 and has been doing it ever since. In the 90′s he worked doing sound and editing on projects such as 1991 the Year Punk Broke, and Ready for PreSchool. Dave spent most of the first decade of the 21st Century teaching History and Economics in South Central Los Angeles. Dave later returned to video and began editing his old footage. The first release from his archive is A History Lesson Part 1: punk rock in Los Angeles in 1984 starring Redd Kross, the Meat Puppets, the Minutemen and Twisted Roots. In 2012 Dave Travis launches UHF.TV an internet punkrock video fanzine. Dave Travis has been playing Electric Cello in Carnage Asada since 1993.
Victoria Thomas
Brooklyn-born Victoria Thomas loves writing about flora and fauna, although she chooses to do so in an urban setting. An ill-starred excursion to rural, soggy “Mendonoma” (ew) recently reinforced Victoria’s lifelong craving for culture, happenings, museums, freshly baked bagels, Chinese, Indian and Mexican take-out, proximity to an ER, dry cleaning, and Target. She lives in Los Angeles.
Billy Bennight
Billy Bennight is a writer, photographer and wardrobe stylist with expertise and years of experience in these disciplines. His musical youth started as a Punk Rocker and has expanded in exploring many genres of music, with an keen interest in art, fashion, photography and writing. He’s very engaged in life.
Nikki Kreuzer
Nikki Kreuzer has been a Los Angeles resident for more than half of her life. When not working insane hours in the film & TV industry, she spends her time over many obsessions, mainly music, art and exploring the oddities of the city she calls home. A published author, she also is a mosaic artist, actor, photographer and Instagram addict (username Lunabeat, she says to follow her!). She is currently working on her first novel.