Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, California
Live Review: 10/6/09
***
You drive past the cemetery gates and ask the uniformed man where the Masonic Lodge is, and he points to the ornate building with the nicely manicured grass lawn and open courtyard. It’s an imposing building in a part of West Hollywood that is otherwise full of warehouses and residential homes. For a band like Fool’s Gold and their “tropical soul,” the Hollywood Forever seems like a gloomy, morbid choice for a venue. →

Photo by Apartment Therapy, licensed under Creative Commons.

BCF #8 with Alexandra Grant & Michael Pinto
Neutra House – Silverlake, CA
10/15/09
***
Big City Forum is back again and this time they will be housing their event at the beautiful Neutra VDL Research House.  The panel discussion will be featuring Alexandra Grant and Michael Pinto focused on issues around practices related to community renovation and activism, and sustainable urbanism. →

Photo by Eric Martin

Kyp Malone has had a pretty busy hiatus so far. Since TV On the Radio announced they were taking a year off in early September at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, Kyp has released a solo album under the handle Rain Machine (on Anti- Records and is already halfway through a national tour with his new band. He spoke to Evil Monito over the phone about his new band, rawer songs, and politics. →

Paired, Gold: Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Roni Horn
New York, NY
10/02/09-01/06/2010
***

Paired, Gold, merges the aesthetic dialogue and connection between Felix Gonzalez-Torres of Guaimaro, Cuba and Roni Hornof New York in an exhibition, bringing together the two artists’ works from their permanent collection for the first time. Organized by Nancy Spector and chief curator Lauren Hinkson, Assistant Curator for collections, Paired, Gold will be on view until January 6, 2010. →

Meet Sky Gellatly. One of my closest friends that I’ve been fortunate to have met working in the fashion industry. Whenever I visit New York, I end up staying at his pad. And of course whenever he is in town in LA, I return the favor. We’ve known each other for over close to five years. Working with your friends is always a blessing. I wouldn’t be friends with Sky if it wasn’t for his off kilter sense of humor. Say hello to Mr. G!

Photo Licensed Under Creative Commons

“Bloggers Regulation Calls for Transparency of the Blogosphere”
On Monday, 5 October,  the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) outlined in a 81 page Federal document specific regulations for bloggers. After reading through the text, media heads became wary. The guideline stipulates a number of rules that infringe Free Speech rights, specifying how bloggers distribute information and ultimately, run their sites.  →

Celebrating J-Dilla’s Legacy
El Cid – Silverlake, CA
10/9/09
***
Superfreq’s, Fusicology, Archrival and Dublab Present: Soundlessons in celebrating the release of the Dillanthology 3 Album with CD giveaways to the early bird!!!  If you love J-DILLA and all the artists he’s worked with during his prolific career, including: J*DAVEY, JANET JACKSON, Q-TIP, GHOSTFACE, D’ANGELO, THE ROOTS, COMMON, ERYKAH BADU, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, BILAL, DWELE, GURU, MADLIB, MACY GRAY, HEAVY-D, FRANK-N-DANK, SLUM VILLAGE, BEAT JUNKIES, MOS DEF, →

This music video easily became my favorite of the year. First and foremost the incredibly catchy “Sunlamp Show” was penned by The Aliens whose members, John Maclean and Robin Jones, used to be from the Beta Band. Unfortunately the former superstar band, amid accolades and praise disbanded; whilst founding Beta Band member, Gordon Anderson went on to record two albums under the Lone Pigeon moniker.  Still from out of the ashes of the Beta Band, the Aliens rose to prominence like a phoenix.  →

Pop Colors in Contemporary Art
939 Chung King Road – Chinatown, CA
10/9/09
***
POVevolving is pleased to present a group show by guest curator Yasmine Mohseni. The Pop of Colors examines the use of pop colors in contemporary art through a series of work created for this exhibition by six emerging artists. The bold synthetic color palette of groundbreaking Pop Art figures like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg have entered the collective consciousness and no longer stands out as revolutionary. Rather, the use of lime greens, bright yellows, and electric blues has become common, even banal. Pop colors can be seen all around us from mundane advertising to high fashion. →

David Banner recently released a seemingly valiant song called Something Is Wrong condemning the savage violence that claimed the life of Chicago high school student Derrion Albert. Banner’s first two verses are a rally cry against black-on-black crime. But, in verse three, the song derails into an ignorant, homophobic faux-narrative. →