The Moth GrandSLAM at Echoplex

Check out The Moth GrandSLAM on Tuesday, March 2, at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

The Moth is basically an unscripted story telling hour – just the speaker telling a short story without notes about certain experiences (storytellers are provided with a theme). I have personally thoroughly enjoyed listening to some of the stories – often hilarious and heartwarming.

The event is described as follows:

The Moth presents the GrandSLAM, a battle of wits and words – fierce, hilarious, heartbreaking and all points between. Listen as ten StorySLAM champs tell tales of uncharted territory. Stories of new places on the map or in the mind.

The Moth is dedicated to finding intriguing people to tell inspired stories.  At The Moth StorySLAM, those people find us. On this night, using words as weapons, they word- it-out to determine The Moth’s LA GrandSLAM Story Champion.

Read more

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The Glendale Strip: Haute Olive, Artillery & Ammo, Them Atelier

There’s this lovely little community that’s formed over the past year or so underneath the Sunset bridge. It includes a gallery (Artillery & Ammo), a vintage and modern clothing boutique (Haute Olive) and a clothing store (Them Atelier). The business-owners and their friends just hang out in their respective spots and wait for people to stroll in and browse, purchase or have a nice conversation.

We walked in through Haute Olive‘s open door and Paul was taking a nap on the couch. But once we started to jiggle some hangers, he was awake and asking us what size shoe we wore. He was watching the store for the day while the owner, Amara Wilson, was out auditioning. She’s a working model and used to be a buyer for Sirens & Sailors. You can tell that she’s got some experience in the fashion industry as every piece is obviously chosen with care and can only be described as fabulous. The place is just littered with dresses, blouses, shoes, bags and collectibles. Amara’s store is located at 1176 Glendale Blvd and is open most days from 11 to 6. And they’re open late at night “whenever there’s a party,” according to Paul. So stop in on your way to or from Dub Club!

A few weeks back we created a post for the Echo Park Art Hop and received some angry comments from someone named “deryke.” He verbally wagged his finger at us for posting an event that he feels just flat out ignored some of the neighborhood’s art galleries. That’s one way to get your gallery noticed. Deryke curates all the shows at Artillery & Ammo and Henry is the owner. They are two of the friendliest and most enthusiastic people I have met in Echo Park. They want to create a serious art scene in east LA that focuses on local artists. And they run a very tight ship, hosting twelve shows in twelve months. A new show opens on the 13th of each month and closes on 6th of the next month. They’re located at 1162 Glendale Blvd.

Everything that I write about Them Atelier is going to be vague and diaphanous which may be the best way to describe this brand/store/collection of designers and artists. The first time I visited them, I spoke with Brian Kim, the founder of the brand. However, the two subsequent times I went to clear up some details, the only one there to greet me was a friendly black cat. I know this much is true: the brand existed before the store and specializes in ready-to-wear and custom denim pieces available at lower prices than most designer jeans. The atelier (French for workshop or studio) sells both Kim’s work and that of other designers. Lately, the space has become a focal point for other types of artists as is reflected in the Them Atelier autumn/winter 2010 catalog. It features both Them Atelier clothing and the artwork of Leslie Shows the former obviously influenced by the latter. Kim has also founded a magazine that features his fashion as well as the art of his friends and co-conspirators: Them Rag. It debuted last November and is scheduled to be released bi-annually. Them Atelier is located at 1160 Glendale Blvd. I’m not sure what their hours are or if they even have regular hours. If anyone knows the answer, feel free to email us or put the info in the comments.

PS – What’s the deal with Front St.? I couldn’t even find it! I thought it was supposed to be right next to Them Atelier. Again, if you readers have any info, please let us know.

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Haitian Relief LA fundraiser at Echo Park Lake

From the organizers:

Galerie Lakaye and Living Art Los Angeles, a local non-profit organization, are organizing Haitian Relief LA, a fundraiser to take place on Sunday, February 14 (Valentine’s Day) at Echo Park Lake–a benefit concert/day of music and art for Haiti disaster relief. The event will include musical, dance and spoken word performances by local Los Angeles artists, as well as Haitian artists, including lots of activities for kids and families. The gallery will also present a wonderful exhibit of Haitian art.

UNICEF, Partners in Health and Hollywood Unites for Haiti will be on hand to collect donations.

In brief, here’s how we envision the participation of professional visual artists: artists come out to the park to paint on canvasses, which will be sent to Haitians living in tent cities as gifts of art to hang on their tents/temporary homes for months to come. Sponsor art organizations will donate canvas and supplies, or even better yet, bring your own! Everything will be set up; Temporary walls/easels will be set up. All you have to do is show up and paint!

The canvasses will be distributed in Haiti by Hollywood Unites for Haiti (HUFH), a non-profit organization on the ground in Haiti. Its mission is to promote cultural activities and sports to underprivileged youth in Haiti. It was started by Haitian actor, Jimmy Jean-Louis.

Most people don’t know that, as far as paintings go, Haiti is the biggest source for black art in the world. Haitians understand the value of art.

We can’t all donate money, but a gift of art can certainly lift the spirit! In that respect, please note that we are asking for positive, inspiring imagery to be sent to the people of Haiti.

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Family Dance Party and Fundraiser

The Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting presents FAMILY DANCE PARTY & FUNDRAISER

@ Echoplex

enter through Sunset Entrance
1822 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

2pm / all ages

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Machine Project This Weekend: Music & Giant Chair!

“Machine: Subject/Object/Project”, an installation by Nate Page, will be open all month from Feb 6th – March 5th, 2010. It’s rare that there’s a show up at Machine you can just stop by and see, and even rarer that it involves a giant chair made out of folding tables, so be sure to come visit. Open every weekend in February from 12-4pm, or even more reliably, by appointment.

At Machine Project on Sunday Feb 14th at 12pm is the second show in our February music residency by Nowcloud. Happening in and around Nate Page’s installation, these performances feature Max Markowitz and Corey Fogel as well as snacks. Free.

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HOME: The works of Sophia Allison and Cheryl Groff

Artillery & Ammo present: HOME The works of Sophia Allison and Cheryl Groff.

OPENING RECEPTION February 13th at 7 o’clock till … ?

HOME is a new show curated by Deryke cardenaz.

About the show …
HOME is the works of two southern California artists, Sophia Allison and Cheryl Groff. HOME is a word that means different things to all of us. For some its the place they were born, and for others it is the place they are at, but for all of us it means a place of belonging as well as a place we carry with us. Each artist’s work is a unique expression / exploration of this concept. The works invite the viewer in to each of their respective worlds.

Artillery & Ammo is proud to have this show on its walls. The show runs from FEB 13 to MAR 7th.

Gallery Hours Noon – Midnight … Mon – Sat

Artillery & Ammo Gallery
1162 Glendale Blvd.
Echo Park, Ca. 90026

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Echo Park Time Bank Free Workshop

The next free workshop on Time Banking will be on Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 5-5:30 pm at Williams Hall (2000 Stadium Way, between Scott and Elysian Park Ave.)

Williams Hall is in the center of the Barlow Hospital campus in Elysian Park, behind the library. Stay after or the member potluck.

Go to the Echo Park Time Bank blog for more information.

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February Films at EPFC

Why not walk to the movies?

Thursday, February 11  – MOCK UP ON MU – 8 PM
A radical hybrid of sci-fi, spy, Western, and even horror genres, Craig Baldwn’s Mock Up On Mucobbles together a feature-length “collage-narrative” based on (mostly) true stories of California’s post-War sub-cultures of rocket pioneers, alternative religions, and Beat lifestyles. Pulp-serial snippets, industrial-film imagery, and B- (and Z-) fiction clips are intercut with newly shot live-action material, powering a playful, allegorical trajectory through the now-mythic occult matrix of Jack Parsons (Crowleyite founder of the Jet Propulsion Lab), L. Ron Hubbard (sci-fi author turned cult leader), and Marjorie Cameron (bohemian artist and “mother of the New Age movement”). Their intertwined tales spin out into a speculative farce on the militarization of space, and the corporate take-over of spiritual fulfillment and leisure-time. More info:http://www.othercinema.com/ FILMMAKER CRAIG BALDWIN IN ATTENDANCE!

Thursday, February 18 – LEFT BANK FILM NIGHT – 8PM
A night of tribute to the Left Bank offshoot of French New Wave cinema.  Featuring Chris Marker’s 1962 short experimental Film “La Jetee” (which later inspired Terry Gilliam’s “Twelve Monkeys”) and pioneering director Agnes Varda’s 1965 “Le Bonheur.”  Curated and introduced by Rena Durrant, with Q&A to follow.

Friday, February 19 – FIG TREES – 8 PM
“Fig Trees is an extremely challenging work, absolutely innovative, both politically and aesthetically. The film scene needs this urgently: to develop the language of film, to give it a foundation and a background.” Wieland Speck, Berlinale. Fig Trees (2008) is Canadian filmmaker John Greyson’s masterful indictment of the pharmaceutical industry and AIDS policy in Canada and South Africa. Using a whirlwind of biting opera, a perverse countdown of Top-40 AIDS songs, a singing squirrel, and the patron saints of amputees, leather and soldiers, Greyson weaves together the true stories of two prominent AIDS activists, Canadian Tom McCaskell and South African Zackie Achmat. In this breathless, fantastical melange, the activists sing opera, Gertrude Stein celebrates the completion of her 1928 play Four Saints in Three Acts, and as always, Greyson turns a wicked, sharp eye on the intersection of politics, history and community. A lyrical, profoundly effective film, Fig Trees won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Berlinale. Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson has long made daring, aggressively political work that is both provocative and funny. Often incorporating song and history, Greyson works in layered forms of narrative, essay and documentary to ignite our curiosity and celebrate the ways that history contradicts itself. Greyson’s films gnash their teeth at machinated government and a complacent public in a call to action that deftly sparks laughter as often as outrage. Previous films include the lush, haunting LIILES (1996), the AIDS-musical ZERO PATIENCE (1993), as well as URINAL (1998), PROTEUS (2003), UNCUT (1997) and many short works. Greyson will join us fresh from the 2010 Berlinale, where he screens his newest film COVERED. FILMMAKER JOHN GREYSON IN ATTENDANCE!

February 20  – 3RD ANNUAL GI JOE FEST – TWO SCREENINGS: 7 PM and 9 PM
The GI JOE STOP MOTION FILM FESTIVAL is the nation’s first festival dedicated to screening works by stop-motion artists who use GI Joe figures (12″, 8″ -sigma 6- and 3 ¾ sizes) as main characters or “actors.”GI JOE Film Festival highlights up and coming filmmakers, as well as masters of the craft and has already attracted award winning films in the past years. Under the direction of festival president Gio Toninelo, the GI JOE FEST has became one of the hottest and fastest growing stop-motion festivals in the country! More info: http://www.gijoefest.com/

Wednesday, February 24  –- CONSCIENTIOUS PROJECTOR PRESENTS TAKING CHANCE – 7 PM
The Silver Lake Chapter of Neighbors for Peace and Justice returns with their Conscientious Projector film series featuring thought-provoking films and community discussion. This month’s feature, Taking Chance, chronicles one of the silent, virtually unseen journeys that takes place every day across the country, bearing witness to the fallen and those who, literally and figuratively, carry them home. A unique non-political film about the war in Iraq, the film pays tribute to all of the men and women who have given their lives in military service as well as their families. More info: http://www.neighborsforpeaceandjustice.org/
http://www.hbo.com/movies/taking-chance/index.html#/movies/taking-chance/synopsis.html

Thursday, February 25  – SISTER AIMEE DVD RELEASE PARTY – 8 PM
Please join us for the dazzling premiere of SISTER AIMEE: THE MUSICAL! In the big dreams/small budget Depression-era tradition of “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” this free EPFC youth filmmaking class introduced three dozen students ages 12 – 19 to the musical genre as they learned about one of Echo Park’s most dynamic historic figures. “Sister” Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 – 1944) was a pioneering evangelist and media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s who presented religion as a form of popular entertainment.  Angelus Temple, the 5300-seat home of the Foursquare Church built by McPherson in 1923, still stands right around the corner from the Film Center at the edge of Echo Park Lake. Students created original sets, costumes, songs and choreography in bringing the story of Sister Aimee to the silver screen. Project made possible in part by grants from the California Council for the Humanities and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. This event is FREE and open to the general public… Q& A and refreshments to follow screening. EVERYONE WELCOME! FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!


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Echo Park Art Hop list of events/vendors

Happening Saturday, February 6 from 12 noon – 6:00 pm.

Grill Em All Truck

Calbi Fusion Truck

Fix Coffee

  • Live music, chain link fence art gallery, and 1-2 artists showcased inside

Echo Park Cycles

  • Bike Race
  • 1932 Echo Park Ave.

Echo Park Outpost

  • Live performances by Nathan Xander & Witchouse, among other artists.
  • Works by Alex Heilbron (opening is February 5th from 6-11:00 pm)
  • Event day discounts
  • 1930 Echo Park Ave.

Ronin Gallery

  • Art and food truck
  • 1924 Echo Park Ave.

Evil Monito

  • Dengue Fever Music Documentary

The Dahlhouse

Peter Shire Gallery

  • Valentine’s Day Pet Photo shoot

Feeding Birds Boutique

  • Driveway Film Screenings, Screen printing workshop, in store discount, music

Delilah’s

  • Live jazz music and painter

Magic Gas Station

  • Interactive Improvisational Dance Troupe

Chango

  • Artist showcased inside

Flounce

Silverwood Properties

  • Interactive Sculpture

Tavin

  • Live piano Music, and live knitting

Blue Collar

  • Interactive sculpture
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The Clinic: You Probably Know Someone That Lives Here

… or works here or hangs out here, or you know one of them through a friend or through a friend of a friend. Perhaps that’s why it feels less like a store and more like someone’s home. But you never feel as though you’re intruding. The front of the space is a second-hand store; “But it’s also my living room,” says Whitney (resident/photographer) who happily showed me around her home.

The Clinic is both a living space for several artists and a space in which they’ve set up shop or studios. There’s a custom framing shop, Ballard’s Artwork Framing, run by Aaron Ballard and focused on personalized and sustainable framing. Adriana Rodriguez, a professional hair stylist, has set up a one-chair salon in the back of the space where she does work by appointment. And local band Pity Party (Have you heard of them? If not, check them out. They’re super.) does “design, layout and printing on 100 percent trash.” And it just seems to keep going. It’s less of a store than a living entity. Or an artists co-op, if you wanna get technical. Perhaps I’ll let the man that helms the whole operation, Drew, explain what it is.

Now for the hard data. The Clinic is located at 1832 W. Sunset Blvd. It’s on the south side of the street just east of the Sunset bridge that goes over Glendale. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday) and by appointment.

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Feeding Birds Boutique 1-Year Anniversary Party

After the Echo Park Art Hop (aka Echo Park Public Displays of Art), stop by Feeding Birds Boutique for their 1 year anniversary.

February 6, 2010 from 6-9:00 PM

According to their Facebook event page, “Festivities will include live music by Miles Moore, snacks & drinks, and varied sales throughout the store!”

Bring your wallets as one of those sales includes 50% off all original organic print t-shirts, and free t-shirts with purchases over $100.

Click here to RSVP on their Facebook page.

Feeding Birds Boutique is located at 1825 Echo Park Avenue, Suite A

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New Youth Writing Workshops at 826LA

826LA just announced their upcoming writing workshops for kids and teenagers. Over the next month and a half, kids can learn to do things like write a screenplay, create a piece of fantasy writing and re-imagine Valentine’s Day (jealous!). Check out the listing on their website for more details and to sign up!

826LA is also working on a project called High School Students – Talk Back! In their own words:

“You, this generation’s high school students, know so much about education—and yet you’re rarely asked. 826LA is working with other 826 chapters nationwide to produce a sequel to 826 Valencia’s Talking Back: What Students Know About Teaching. Come to the 826LA writing labs and work with 826LA tutors to write essays for this book, for possible publication by Edutopia and The New Press!”

Click here for more info.

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February Events At Echo Curio

There is a lot going on at Echo Curio this month! For those who don’t know, Echo Curio is located at 1519 Sunset Blvd. Echo Park, CA 90026 on the intersection of Laveta Ter and Sunsent Blvd. They open their doors 1 hour before shows start. Since the list is long I’m going to add one of those helpful read more links! Click below to see the list of February shows. Remember sometimes shows change at the last minute so check out their website to stay informed. Events are all ages and their is always art on the walls (a lot done by Echo Park residents).
Read more

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Artillery & Ammo gallery presents “Friends of Ours…”

A few days ago, we received some comments on our Echo Park Art Hop post regarding the galleries that AREN’T being featured during said event. We tracked down the writer of these comments and found what turned out to be a really cool guy and an awesome gallery that we never knew existed.

Artillery & Ammo is owned by Henry, a long-time Echo Park resident, and the shows are curated by Deryke. The reason that they don’t get a lot of press is because they’re tucked away in that strange spot on Glendale underneath the Sunset bridge. I’ll be writing more about them in another post dedicated to the stores and galleries in that little strip.

In the meantime, you should check out the group show that’s up right now.  It’s called “Friends of Ours…” and features three local artists: Bill Donovan, Maureen Sheilds and Patrick Haemmerlein. They’ll be having a hard closing (read: wine and cheese) for the show on Saturday, February 6th around 7 p.m.

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Saturday at 2HeadedHorse

I went to here for the first time a few weeks ago to see Black Church and it was great. They got the sound right. The girl working the door was very nice, the bathroom was clean and it wasn’t crazy packed. You can park on Glendale in that far right lane after a certain time at night. It was byob when I was there but I can’t say if that’s an official thing for the venue or not. Wouldn’t want to get anyone in trouble 😉

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