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With my editing roots stemming from the world of music videos, it’s always great to see clips that push the boundaries of conventional music video making. Radiohead’s latest, “House of Cards”, instantly comes to mind. I hate to admit it, but these types of videos are few and far between these days. Anomalies even. But every now and then one pops up that instantly grabs your attention and reminds you that there’s still much more to explore within the medium. And when your friend is responsible for such an offering it makes it even better. Have a heart and peep Chris Milk’s latest video for Gnarls Barkley’s “Save My Soul” which also reminds you what it’s like to be in a failing relationship. Bastard.

If you’re not going to be lining up to see one of the thousands of sold out Dark Knight showings this Saturday the 19th, you might want to check out the Santa Monica Pier anywhere from 7pm to 7am for the event known as Glow. After perusing the website and checking out the scheduled events (DJ’s, live bands, parades, and a possible Grunion run sighting!), this fairly huge and ambitious art offering may not be right for me. Maybe if I had gone to a Burning Man or two I would be all over it. But lucky for me I’ll be enjoying a glow of another kind, namely the glow of a 60 foot Joker’s smile on an IMAX screen.

From the Glow website (not to be confused with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling-G.L.O.W.):

This Friday night, July 11th, at the Hollywood Car Wash on Sunset come get clean. Squeak E. Clean that is. One of LA’s finest party starters brings us another evening of Sudsy fun with ass-shaking, skating by the Girl Skateboards team, live screenprinting, more ass-shaking, and art and video installations created by Aaron Rose and edited by yours truly.

Don’t forget to RSVP!

SUDS

Friday, July 11th

10pm-2am

Hollywood Car Wash

6200 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

(Another fine flyer design from Keith Scharwath)

This Sunday June 29th, kick down your old new shoes for a good cause. Nike, Undefeated, and the illustrious Gents of Desire are kicking off a benefit for the East LA Community Youth Center where every pair of unworn shoes donated will be generously matched by Nike. In addition to helping out your fellow peoples, Nike and Undefeated will be hosting a picnic for you filled with food, drink, music, and a “lady pants” competition in their back alley featuring the artwork of the Gents of Desire. Your ticket in is the pair of shoes you’ll be donating. Read on for more info:

Time and place:

June 29th

5pm-9pm

UNDFTD Los Angeles

112 1/2 South La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

(click image to see more photos of The Sads silent show)

Last Saturday June 14th, The Sads played a “silent show” at the Westwood Art Forum. I had heard their previous foray into the silent show business went exceedingly well when they recently performed in New York. This time they were bringing along artist/designer/director Mike Mills along with them. I was definitely intrigued.

Upon entering the upstairs venue, I was greeted with a bit of laughter coming from one of the 3 television sets facing the sitting audience who were positioned in a circle around the room. The 3 video installations, which were created specifically for this show by Mr. Mills, were loops of iconic film clips featuring laughter, crying, and people saying “I love you”. The televisions continued to play through the band’s performance thus evoking a variety of emotions depending on where you were sitting. The one I sat closest too was laughter:

Also positioned in front of the audience were 50 headphones connected to amplifiers which in turn were hooked up to the bands instruments. When the lights dimmed it was time for the audience to put on their headphones. I had seen the band play once before and was impressed with how far they had come, but it was even more impressive to see how much further they have jelled since then. What I was listening to in that dark little room while watching James Dean continually laugh at me was something I hadn’t heard from them yet. It was again, something different that I welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed. With Dan Monick leaving the band to pursue other pursuits, The Sads have brought in a new drummer with more of a beat driven style and the pairing seems to have taken them to a new place as well as a new pace.

The band went on to perform their 25 minute tour de force while the Mills videos continued to sway your feelings one way or the other all while the attentive audience sat peacefully quiet enjoying the sadness of The Sads. I had to leave in a hurry, but I left smiling knowing that the band was progressing and affecting people differently. Or maybe it was the repeated image of the straggly haired Gary Sinise from Forrest Gump snickering out of the side of his mouth that put a smile on my face? It was definitely both.

Check out what the band had to say prior to their Saturday performance on KCRW here: The Sads on Weekend America

Slowly, softly, stylistically, and now silently, The Sads have been working their way into the heart of L.A. with their off-kilter songs of loves lost and sentimental hopes. Since their last public outing at agnes b. (which is covered right here), the quartet of Aaron Rose, Aska Matsumiya, Dan Monick, and David Scott Stone have been preparing a silent show for the rest of us romantics. What’s a silent show you ask? Please allow Mr. Rose elaborate:

‘Please join us this Saturday night for a very special silent performance by The Sads. If your wondering what a silent performance consists of, the concept is this: essentially we play all electronic instruments and sing directly into a board which then feeds out to multiple sets of individual headphones for the audience. When the headphones are off, the room is quiet…when you put them on, they’re full of loud, wonderful live music. Hence, a “silent” show. We’re working on a brand new composition for the performance, so we hope you can come share this with us. We did it in New York last year and it was an amazing experience!! Also, this year, filmmaker Mike Mills has created a special video installation for the performance which will play on multiple monitors throughout the performance. It’s seriously worth coming just for that!’

Here’s the info:

ANP QUARTERLY and THE VISION and ART of SHINJO ITO present
A SILENT PERFORMANCE by THE SADS
Video Installation by MIKE MILLS

SATURDAY, JUNE 14th, 2008

Two Performances: 8:00 & 9:00 PM (doors open 7:30)
Due to limited headphones, please arrive early.

WESTWOOD ART FORUM
1028 WESTWOOD BLVD (just north of Hammer Museum)
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024

www.westwoodartforum.com
www.thesads.com

Invitation design: Mike Mills

And for those of you unfamiliar with the work of Mike Mills, he’s responsible for some of your Sonic Youth, Beastie Boys, and Air album artwork, and skateboard and t-shirt graphics. He’s also reminded us it’s ok to suck our thumbs by directing Thumbsucker as well as many other creative music videos, commercials, and graphic design endeavors.

For lovers of cool shoes, small companies who make cool shoes, and cool shoes on sale made by small cool companies, check out Keep’s sample sale this weekend in LA’s Chinatown. Music, drinks, and deals on shoes on a warm LA day, sounds like good times to be had.

And not only do the good peeps at Keep create fine shoes and clothing, they also keep good company as they are tight with an artistic community who support and share their same ideals. Among the Keep family contributors are photographers Tobin Yelland (who shoots most of Keep’s catalogs as well as being the director of photography of our film Beautiful Losers), Deanna Templeton (the lovely wife of Ed), and the brothers Ray and David Potes of the omni-present Hamburger Eyes (I actually just randomly met Dave in NY a few days ago through our mutual friend Ito!).

Thanks to Stephanie at Keep’s Hillhurst store for passing along the good info.

May 31 Sat 10 am - 6 pm
June 1 Sun 12 - 5 pm
Keep Chinatown HQ
418 Bamboo Lane
LA, CA 90012

This coming Thursday, May 1st marks the return of Beautiful Losers to California after it’s initial run of film festivals including it’s world premiere at South By Southwest in Austin, TX. Since that special week in March, the film has made it’s way to New York for an AIGA screening (professional association for design), and to Toronto for it’s Canadian Premiere at the Hot Docs Film Festival.

The Newport Beach Film Festival is next in line as they have named Beautiful Losers the closing film as the centerpiece of their Closing Night Gala celebration. The movie screens this Thursday, May 1st in Newport Beach at 8pm. General admission tickets are still available for $15 with show and reception tickets priced at $65. I imagine this screening will be quite packed with Orange County being the home of Ed Templeton, Toy Machine, and the legions of skateboarding fans as well.

We’re not 100% certain yet when the film will be making it’s theatrical premieres across the country so this may be your last chance to see the film in Southern California for a while. Unfortunately I’ll still be out of the country but I hope you can make it as this is a homecoming of sorts and sure to be good times.

Other upcoming screenings of the film include:

Friday, May 2nd at 7 and 9:30pm at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN featuring discussions with Chris Johnason and his lovely wife Jo Jackson, along with the director of the film Aaron Rose.

Saturday, May 3rd at 5pm at the Maryland Film Festival.

(click images to see more of the politically charged art on display at LA vs. WAR)

A couple of weeks ago I was able to check out the LA vs. WAR poster/graffiti/screenprinting art show which was held in downtown Los Angeles during the weekend of April 10th-13th. What I failed to do was follow up and mention how powerful the art actually was. On a beautifully calm Sunday evening which brought many people to the downtown Firehouse venue, I was fortunate enough to make a return trip and take some more photos as well. On display was the touring exhibition of anti-war posters and screenprints from the likes of Futura, Doze Green, Shepard Fairey, along with many other artists-both known and unknown. A timely, clever, and often comical look at our recent state of affairs as the world’s first nation of war, the art on display defiantly speaks for itself. And perhaps for many of us as well. Please check out the pieces for yourself by clicking the images or this link to be taken to my Flickr set.

You can also buy the book “Yo! What Happened to Peace?” which contains all the poster art featured in the show at www.yopeace.org.

(click image to see more photos of The Sads at agnes b.)

On Friday April 11th, L.A.’s agnes b. boutique in brought together Brent Stewart’s photography from the set of writer/director Harmony Korine’s (Kids, Gummo) upcoming cinematic love story Mister Lonely, as well as the musical stylings of The Sads.

I don’t usually find myself perusing the high class fare and all too expensive goods (to me at least) of Robertson Blvd., but the night’s opening reception was an exception. On the walls amidst the chic couture you could find production photos from Harmony’s film. Some were big prints of the film’s stars, some were small snapshots of candid moments, and some were even just photocopies. The photos were nice to look at as I tried to avoid glancing at price tags, but the real buzzing excitement came from the anticipated performance by The Sads.

Almost as out of place as the bowls of Lay’s Sea Salt and Vinegar potato chips and accompanying bowl of cherry tomatoes (actually a great combo), The Sads were set up to perform right in front of one of the large store front windows giving passer byers a glimpse into a cross section of high fashion and low-fi musical creations. Aska Matsumiya (also of the Moonrats) first took the “stage” and began singing while on the keyboard, she was soon joined by guitarist/Moog/modular synth player David Scott Stone as they performed the first song of the evening. At the completion of the first song, the duo soon turned into a quartet as drummer Dan Monick and guitarist/vocalist Aaron Rose picked up their instruments and headed right into their next song, “Pas Deux”.

I’ve heard all The Sads’ songs to date, and as you may have guessed, they come from a place where sadness may dwell. But seeing them perform live and feeling the energy the band was exuding actually made me feel the opposite, quite happy. The sound was great for a clothing store; the beats were heavy, the vocals were heard, the band was tight, and the children were really into it. And when I say children I don’t mean that as a euphemism for the adult audience, I mean the children who were not even 7 years old who were performing interpretive dances when they weren’t banging along with the accompanying beats with whatever they could get their little hands on.

The Sads performed a mesmerizing set that I honestly can’t say I was fully prepared for. A set of musical economy with massive feeling that made me forget I was standing next to a rack of $7000 jeans.

Check out more of The Sads at www.thesads.com

Check out Harmony Korine’s film Mister Lonely at www.misterlonely.co.uk

*There actually were no $7000 jeans. At least to my knowledge.