Carnaval de la Lune. Photo by Mike Guerena.
Carnaval de la Lune is happening for just one weekend, September 9th-10th, at Heritage Square. The walk-through event is peopled with sideshow performers ready to entertain and pose for photo ops. You can still attend today from 4PM-10PM. Tickets are $20. All ages. Heritage Square Museum 3510 Pasadena Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90031. If you can’t make it, here are some photos from Mike Guerena.
In the history of Great Second Acts for rock bands, one of the most rewarding returns to the stage has to be that of the Brazilian band Os Mutantes. Virtually unheard in the US from the time they started in Sao Paulo, they were genuinely trippy, melding sixties rock with the sounds of South America and their own twisted musical sensibilities. They were key contributors to the infamous 1969 compilation Tropicalia/ Ou Panis Et Circenses which announced a new generation of outspoken musicians that included Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and led to the latter two musicians becoming exiles in the UK shortly thereafter. Praise from North American fans like Kurt Cobain and Beck introduced them by name to a curious audience starting in the 90’s, leading to a series of reissues and a handful of US dates in the mid 2000s. Every few years since, they’ve been back, led by original member Sergio Dias, occasionally producing new music, and always bringing the joy of life back into their catalog.
This headlining show at the Ford was clearly a joyous occasion for the band, who sold out three nights at Highland Park’s Lodge Room last fall. Led by Dias and lead singer Esmeria Bulgari, this latest collective of musicians is perhaps the best one yet to tour the States. They’re vocally and instrumentally well suited to tackle the group’s spaced-out sixties catalog (Fuga No. 2″, “Dois Mil E Um”, “Panis Et Circenses”) as well as the sophisticated pop numbers (“Ando Meio Desligado”, “Balada Do Luoco”, “Technicolor”), and Deep Purple-worthy biker rock of the 70s (“Jardim Electrico”, “A Hora E A Vez Do Cabelo Nascer (Cabeludo Patriota)”, which Sepultura cover without having to change anything in particular to make it sound more metal), and the newest music, “Beyond” from the album Zzyzx, and “Time and Space” from the previous effort Fool Metal Jack, which seems downright McCartney-esque in its sincerity and warmth. Continue reading
Burning Man 2023. Photo by Paul Koudounaris.
Written by Paul Koudounaris
Gosh Burning Man was fun . . . actually it was fine for me, I took off as soon as the rain started and got out before it was locked down, and here are some photos from two lovely days. As I was driving out the catastrophe was already unfolding, the ground was turning into quicksand and the road out was littered in cars that had already been stuck. As I passed them (thank you Jeep, thank you offroad tires) a man jumped out of a Mercedes that was stuck in the mud and started screaming at me and waving a handful of cash. He ran to my car and told me he’d give me a thousand dollars if I could get him off the playa in my Jeep and drop him off at the airport in Reno. Bribe accepted, and I spent the next two days exploring ghost towns. Enjoy the photos, the conditions were lovely during that brief period.
The West Adams Block Party returns to the vital West Adams neighborhood this Sunday, September 3!
This free (with RSVP) event goes for nine hours, with live musical performances, art installations, local businesses, food trucks, a job fair, and a kids’ zone featuring science, arts, and sports programming.
Confirmed performers include Grammy Award-winning hip hop group, Arrested Development, Grammy-nominated artist and Inglewood Native D Smoke, DJ Battlecat, Soulection & Friends featuring Arin Ray, Andres Uribe and special guest and a “hip hop legend” presented by Delicious Vinyl.
Other artists performing include Mumu Fresh, Medusa, Boomyard Takeover with Blvk H3ro, DJ Crooks and Kali Madden, Earry Hall Takeover, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Yo-Yo, Humble G Tha Fiddla, Chris “The Glove” Taylor, Neb Luv, Emoni Fela, NÜ AFRICA Takeover with Rozay, E Honda, Slow Like Whoa, Bryant, Mariachi Quinto Sol, Kene O, BE!,KCRW DJs Novena Carmel & Anthony Valadez and some very special surprises.
last edition of the watt from pedro show at the love grotto on the pleasure point w/brother matt ’till I get back from the mssv “aki 2023 tour” in a couple of months – to his starboard is today’s on-air guest neil young cloaca who’s celebrating his first year living in my pedro town, yatta!
photo by mike watt
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mike watt’s hoot page
Tiki Oasis 2023. Photo by Elise Thompson.
Written by Dave Arnson
The cult of Tiki is an intriguing one, one of disposable income and alcoholic hedonism coupled with an artfully fantastical version of a faux- Polynesian paradise. These elements all come together once a year (for over 20 years now) in San Diego at a brilliantly curated event, “Tiki Oasis.” Organized by the uber-suave power couple Otto Von Stroheim and Baby Doe, an entire hotel is booked out by rabid fans of retro Tiki culture. There are antique car shows, a massive vendor area, music around the swimming pool, amazing bands, and after 10:00 p.m. or so at night- the legendary room crawl! On every floor of the hotel there will be rooms where people will trick out their spaces to resemble tiki bars, replete with all kinds of exotic booze, more bands and DJ’s, and a lively party attitude.
The event features a different theme every year (“The Enchanted Sea”, “International Espionage”, “Outer Space”, etc.) but most of the women here will be decked out to the nines in vintage fashions, glamorous hairstyles and generally looks that kill. It’s much simpler for the guys, just a Hawaiian shirt and perhaps a fedora is the commonly accepted go-to. Some super cute couples will wear matching prints for their dresses and shirts! Tiki Oasis also features seminars throughout the day, ranging from lectures by pop culture authors, the art of cocktail making to surf guitar and ukulele lessons and various kiddie events.
The nightmare of survivor’s guilt can be a prolonged, excruciating, never-ending darkness that is often endured by the perpetrators loved ones just as much as the victims’ families as lives are left in shambles. Everyone that is left to pick up the pieces asks the same question…WHY?
“Exit Wounds” answers that question nobly and well-reasoned, but, as with the false optimism of closure, sometimes the survivors learn that there is rarely any such relief, no less answers that can explain a thing.
In playwright Wendy Graf’s own words “Exit Wounds” is not a play about guns. It is not a platform nor a lecture on gun control. It is a story about a scarred family learning to heal.”
Truer words were never spoken as Graf, the Gold Medallion winner of the Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative for 2019 takes a hard and harrowing look at an all too familiar tragedy from today’s headlines.
*indicates that this title is also available for rent, purchase, or viewing through streaming sources.
“Asteroid City” (2023, Universal Pictures Home Video*) Two storylines, running concurrently, detail the various personages, famous and otherwise, who converge at a 1950s convention for young astronomers that also happens to mark the first human interaction with an extraterrestrial, and the on-camera and behind-the-scenes machinations involved in the production of that story as a live broadcast for television. Your appreciation of Wes Anderson’s latest intricately plotted and densely populated diorama of Big Emotions on a Minor Scale will determine whether you find “Asteroid City” endearing or precious; the cast, led by mainstay Jason Schwartzman and including Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Maya Hawke and Bryan Cranston, is smartly chosen and do well at delivering the pain and hope that often runs just below the surface of Anderson’s deadpan, mile-a-minute dialogue. Their presence may win more converts to Anderson’s particular and peculiar but often appealing aesthetic; Universal’s Blu-ray/DVD’s includes a four-part EPK detailing aspects of the production in the briefest of terms (it’s seven minutes total).
