10 Freeway ~ Los Angeles

Depending on whether it’s the devil or angel on your shoulder speaking loudest, you have some options for debauchery or growth this weekend. There are 3 local events that utilize the talents of everyday Angelenos from Cornerstone Theatre’s Los Illegals to Inside Out’s teenage students speaking their minds on issues that concern them to Sunday’s look at the differing though not-too-distant communities of Eagle Rock and Watts at From Where I’m Standing, which will no doubt give great views of the Towers while there. ‘Big Daddy’ Roth’s works will no doubt be aided by the zany environs and hepcat crowds at La Luz de Jesus, but we hear the Buff Monster travels with bodyguards in LA, so make sure not to get too close…snicker, snicker. We’ll be racing back and forth from Slick Rick to Manu Chao, getting a few songs here, a few songs there while furiously jamming on the gas pedal for one of their encores. No se importa, todo es mentira, si?

Thursday May 31, 2007

Cornerstone Theatre Company’s ‘Los Illegals’ @ Pasadena Armory ~ 965 N. Fair Oaks Pasaden, CA 91103 ~ Play portrays the lives of day-workers based on Lope de Vega’s ‘Fuente Ovejuna’ and the true stories of undocumented laborers in a mix of Spanish and English that uses professional actors alongside community members ~ Thurs-Sun until June 24th @ 8PM ~ Pay what you can ($20 suggested)

Friday June 1, 2007

What’s on Our Minds? @ Bovard Auditorium ~ USC Campus, enter @ 36th & Vermont ~ 9 Original short plays written and performed by middle school students from Glassel Park, Cypress, and Northridge through the nationally awarded Inside Out Communtiy Arts ~ 7:30PM ~ FREE

The Raveonettes & Midnight Movies @ Spaceland ~ 1717 Silverlake Blvd. Silverlake, CA 90026 ~ 9PM

Works from Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Studio @ La Luz del Jesus ~ Inside of Wacko 4633 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90027 ~ 7PM ~ Free

Buff Monster ‘Happy Squirter’ @ Corey Helford Gallery ~ 8522 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 ~ Opening reception 8-11PM

Saturday June 2, 2007

Culver City Art Walk @ Culver City Arts District ~ Corners of Washington & La Cienega ~ Self-guided and free ~ 12-8PM

Manu Chao @ Los Angeles Sports Arena ~ 3939 South Figueroa Los Angeles, CA 90037 ~ 8PM ~ $40

Slick Rick w/Audible Mainframe @ The Knitting Factory ~ 7021 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028 ~ 8PM ~ $18

Sunday June 3, 2007

From Where I’m Standing 2007 @ Watts Tower Arts Center ~ 1727 107th St. Los Angeles, CA 90002 ~ Youths in two L.A. communities (Watts & Eagle Rock) document their worlds in words and photographs, photo-documentary project by Gail Brown ~ Opening 1-3PM, feat. round-table discussion with participants, music and more. Tues-Sat 10am-4pm/Sundays 12-4PM

Pretty Girls Make Graves @ The Troubador ~ 9081 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069 ~ $12 Adv.

Venice ~ CA

5/25/2007 ~ Pictures from last Friday’s jam-packed closing art show in Pasadena for Restitution Press, tons of heads, art, and easy-going L.A. vibes. Heads like Sticky Rick, Branded, and Dial UNSEEN all showed their respect by showing up to bring this art show to a way down-to-earth vibe. ~ 455ER

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Barranca St. ~ Cypress Park

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One of the funniest, best-written things going is a web comic called Achewood. We first clued you in to its goodness when a character revealed the secret Taco Bell menu; now we wrangled an interview with Achewood’s elusive creator, Chris Onstad.

LA TACO: You are a Northern California guy, have you spent much time in Los Angeles? What are your impressions of our city?

CHRIS ONSTAD: I’ve spent plenty of time in Los Angeles. It’s a big flat place, dusty from no rain, roads are bad and lots of people are trying to get by. Too many people, too badly managed. They go about it with a sense of fatal allegiance and, like anywhere, they pretend there is no alternative. Once you stop caring about that, the energy is very bohemian and equatorial, very different from the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live. I love what I feel when I am in LA. It’s far less guarded than Silicon Valley. In Los Angeles, there is always the very real danger of talking to someone who is fine about who they are.

LAT: As a renowned cookbook author and chef (or at least member of an of the month club), please comment on your ideal taco. Also, what is your favorite taco place, and what do you order?

CO: I like a taco with a base of two firm little corn tortillas, stuck together, as I imagine most legitimate tacos are. I like a hard-caramelized pastor or asada under a heavy handful of cilantro and onion. This won’t mean anything to your Los Angeles readers, but my local for tacos is El Charrito in San Carlos, at the intersection of Holly and El Camino Real. You can barely get in there at lunchtime for all the Mexicans who have been busting their asses all morning. They do buche, cabeza, lengua, all the good stuff.

LAT: In general, what type of bars and restaurants do you like?

CO: I almost feel like this question is designed to provoke me into saying that I’m tired of impossibly precious Thomas Keller-type places. Well, fine, you’ve gone and done it. Sure, I fell for the hype. Sure, I’ve had “braised” saddle* of Elysian Fields™ lamb. And now, years later, I feel foolish about it. Six years ago my wife and I spent four hundred dollars on lunch at the French Laundry. The prix fixe was like $110 per person. Now it’s $240. And you can hear the backlash taking form. The public can endure only so many fresh-ground spices dusted artfully across otherwise empty expanses of white porcelain, can handle only so many television hacks spooning godawful foam over things. I like local places, neighborhood places, where a hot forkful of homemade spaghetti bolognese is treated less like a quivering unicorn egg and more like the tough old workhorse it is. Food can be art and chefs have been highly underappreciated, but there’s a lot of fringe bullshit going on.
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Buss Busted for DUI
Lakers Owner Jerry Buss was arrested yesterday at 1am for driving the wrong way on a street in San Diego. The 74 year old may have been drowning his sorrows over the latest Kupchak/Kobe/West drama, or perhaps he was just trying to show off for his “23 year old female passenger”.

LA Mayor to Endorse Hilary Clinton
Our Mayor is endorsing Hilary Clinton, who reportedly wooed Antonio more then any other candidate.

Ban on Westside Veterans Development Foiled by Congress
Our local pols wanted to put language into a spending bill to ban development at the West LA Veteran’s campus, a huge swath of land between Westwood and Brentwood. They were stymied by people in Congress who would like the Government to profit from the land by leasing or selling it to private developers.

No Charges in H’wood Hills Fire
The boys, whose names were withheld because they are minors, allegedly told arson investigators they were playing with a lighter and setting twigs on fire when the blaze spread up the hillside, the Los Angeles Times reported. The DA says: “There is no evidence that either juvenile, both of whom live in agricultural communities in the Midwest, was aware that the burning would be a substantial and unjustifiable risk that would cause forest land to burn”. The message here is that playing with matches is not inherently wrong, as long as you’re from out of town, a major victory for irresponsible tourist kids everywhere.

Hollywood ~ CA

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Walk of Fame ~ Hollywood