His rise to fame was meteoric.  Every new song was a hit.  Some were even heralding him as Jackson’s heir apparent.  But it all came crashing down on a fateful February night before his highly anticipated 2009 Grammy performance.  It’s been nearly five months since Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna and after some time out of the public eye he makes he makes his first appearance.  Will society forgive him, or is his career–or identity–forever marred? →

The Echoplex-Los Angeles
Live Review: 07/15/09

After years of frequenting the Dub Club in Echo Park, I was especially looking forward to the screening of Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style, a documentary chronicling the birth of the Dub and the reggae pioneers that partook in its inception. And much to my anticipation, the event was a success. There is something to be said about watching a film in a club, with a beer in tow, getting ready for the evening to begin. Drawing an eclectic crowd, audience members sat before several screens projected on stage and the interior of the club, while laughing alongside each other. Retaining the essence of reggae and Rasta culture, a ‘positive’ energy floated throughout the room. Folks seemed genuinely entertained by the mere candor of the artists featured in the film. →

“In its apparently catastrophic form… Detroit has recently emerged as a figure for abject urban failure,” writes Andrew Herscher of Detroit Unreal Estate Agency. Herscher, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, and collaborators Mirielle Roddier, Femke Lutgerink, and Partizan Publik’s Christian Ernsten and Joost Janmaat, are attempting to redefine the term economy with regard to Detroit’s post-industrial blight.

Herscher and his collaborators define ‘unreal estate’ as “urban space that has slipped through the literal economy, the economy of the market, and entered other economies, included but not limited to those of survival, invention, play and desire.” →

“I like the tee shirt but I will get the painting” - Works of Art by Parra
Pool Gallery – Berlin, Germany
Opening 8/27/09
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32-year-old Dutch illustrator and designer Parra has decorated the Amsterdam underground with his playful, bizarre graphics that span a broad base of themes, from introspective to audacious and bawdy. The mostly self-taught artist channels vintage forms, yet with a decidedly modern, post-pop approach and a distinctive, hand-drawn feel. →

Second Nature: The Valentine-Adelson Collection
The Hammer Museum – Los Angeles, CA
Through 10/4/09
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Since the mid-1990s, sculpture has developed as a particularly vital and inventive area of artistic practice in Los Angeles. This will be the first public presentation of a selection from the extraordinary gift by Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson to the Hammer. The Valentine-Adelson Collection comprises 50 sculptures by 29 Los Angeles artists, made from 1995 to the present. →

Live Los Angeles Hip Hop
El Cid – Silverlake, CA
7/23/09
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Hey, hey party people!  Get down with us this Thursday at El Cid with Gio Basicali and come experience some truly good Los Angeles underground hip hop.  Free w/RSVP @ rsvp@rootdownclub.com.  FREE WELL DRINKS from 9 to 10pm. →

HELLZ BELLZ & 80′S PURPLE PRESENT TOO HOT
Detroit Bar – Costa Mesa, CA
7/22/09
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Hellz Bellz and 80′s Purple have teamed up to bring you a feel good type of party. No strings attached, no flashy promotions, no rules. This party is for our people and our fans.  We have called in our friends Scotty Coats, Rhettmatic, Pube$, Thee Mike B, and NO MSG because they know how to Party. →

The Line of Beauty
Envoy Enterprises – NY
7/22/09
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Come view the drawings by sartorial illustrator, Richard Haines, a dear friend of Evil Monito Magazine.  Come view his ‘Live’ Drawing from 4:00 to 6:00pm with an afterparty at White Slab. The DJs spinning for the night will be: Anton, Aisling + Olov and The Six Six Sick Girls.  The party will be live from 9pm- 3am.  →

A DIME LIVE music event – with an intimate performance by Amel Larrieux
Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge – San Jose, CA
7/29/09
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This Wednesday, Ungrammar in collaboration with Fahrenheit, NewSense, G-Wrex, Soulstar and Hometown Heroes presents Amel Larrieux.  The soul and R&B singer-songwriter and keyboardist, rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a founding member of the duo Groove Theory. →

Photo courtesy of Edwina Hay

On June 25, two New Yorkers, Nick and Katherine, set out to begin their tour of 50 free shows across the city in 50 days straight. Their journey ends on August 13, and today marks their 27th show, no average feat as wading through crowds and beating the heat in three-day music festivals alone are exhausting, let alone more than a month’s worth of live shows. So far, they’ve seen garage rock virtuoso Jay Reatard spit at an audience after a 20-minute set →