As some of you may or may not know – since I started playing bass again in 2010, I’ve joined not one but two combos – and am playing in both The Dick and Jane Family Orchestra and The Skip Heller Trio with long-time Dionysus Records friend, producer and artist Skip Heller. Here’s a couple of videos of the trio performing – around Los Angeles. This combo should be recording something in 2011, stay tuned!
“You Got Me Dizzy” live at the back porch of The Echo in Echo Park with our drummer Mark Borinstein
“Doin’ My Tme” and “California Blues” live at The Redwood in Downtown Los Angeles with guest drummer D.J. Bonebrake, of X, Orchestra Superstring and The Bonebrake Syncopators
Orchestra Superstring features DJ Bonebrake of X on vibes and plays instrumental jazz music inspired by Afro-Cuban, Latin, and other modern influences. Composed of an eclectic band of well known Los Angeles musicians; Orchestra Supersting blends infectious beats and fresh rhythms in original tunes written by its members, and creates new interpretations of jazz standards. Their second album, “Easy,” will be released by Dionysus Records in February of 2011.
The Dick and Jane Family Orchestra featuring Jane Cantillon, Richard Ross, percussionist Mike Peffer (also of Biblical Proof of UFOs) and Dionysus Records’ Lee Joseph on bass plays a hybrid of folk, beat and garage – acoustifying Velvet Underground, feminizing Bob Dylan and featuring frontwoman Cantillon’s extremely infectious and humorous LA-centric originals.
The Skip Heller Trio features long time Dionysus Records recording artist and friend Skip Heller with Lee Joseph on bass and guest drummer DJ Bonebrake. The trio plays an all-acoustic country, roots and rock ‘n’ roll set showcasing Heller’s songsmithing, vocals and jazz, country and rockabilly inspired guitar playing.
The night starts at 9:30 and the cover is only $5.00. If you’ve never been to the pirate themed Redwood Bar and Grill, come early and hungry. They have some of the best comfort food, salads and sweet potato fries in Los Angeles!
A HISTORY LESSON PT 1
Punk Rock in Los Angeles 1984
A film by Dave Travis
Featuring live performances and interviews with
Minutemen, Redd Kross, Meat Puppets and Twisted Roots www.ahistorylesson.com
PREMIER LA SCREENINGS
Tuesday, Oct. 12
Redwood Bar and Grill
316 West 2nd Street
Los Angeles, California 90012 www.theredwoodbar.com
21 and over
8PM: A History Lesson Part 1
9PM: The Probe
10PM: Carnage Asada
11PM: The Amadans
12AM: A History Lesson Part1
Tuesday, Oct. 19
Redwood Bar and Grill
8PM: A History Lesson Part 1
9PM: Nerver
9:45PM: Bikos
10:30PM: Sylvia Juncosa Band + Special Guest Kat Arthur
11:15PM: Carnage Asada
12:00AM A History Lesson Part 1
Tuesday, Oct. 26
Redwood Bar and Grill
8PM: A History Lesson Part 1
9PM: Somos Mysteriosos
10PM: Carnage Asada
11PM: The Mormons
12AM: A History Lesson Part 1 Midnight screening
It has been said that Los Angeles and San Francisco were the last major metropolitan cities in which punk music scenes developed and once it hit California, punk changed shapes numerous times, spread to every corner of the United States and became a permanent fixture in popular culture.
In 1984, a teenage Dave Travis decided to capture punk rock in Los Angeles on video tape, a fascination and hobby that he would continue until 1997, logging in hundreds of hours of Los Angeles area shows and interviews. In “A History Lesson Part 1, Travis presents live footage filmed in the spring of 1984 featuring the Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Twisted Roots and Redd Kross interspersed with interviews of members from each group which examines and puts a perspective on the early years of “psychedelic” punk rock in Los Angeles and Phoenix, AZ. Each song by each group is presented from start to finish.
THE MEAT PUPPETS
The Meat Puppets started playing punk rock in their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona out of a feeling of alienation. After sharing a bill in Phoenix, Black Flag invited The Meat Puppets to play a show with them The Cuckoos Nest in Costa Mesa, CA. The group played their chaotic shamanistic psychedelic punk which messed with the minds of the hardcore punks in the audience who started a riot during their set. This prompted Greg Ginn of Black Flag to invite The Meat Puppets to record an album for SST. The group recorded “Meat Puppets 1” over a non-stop three day session while tripping on acid at Unicorn Studios in West Hollywood. A year later, the group returned to the studio and with a more structured and coherent approach for “Meat Puppets 2.” Three songs from that album were captured live on May 5, 1984 at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, CA. Melons Rising and Saturday Morning capture the bewitching feeling of “Meat Puppets 1,” while Lake of Fire captures the new direction they were moving towards with “Meat Puppets 2.”
The Minutemen were the original punk band from San Pedro, California. Bassist Mike Watt, a childhood friend of guitarist D Boon says that Boon’s mother taught him how to play bass. When the two first started playing together, they tried to cover rock songs, like American Woman and Black Dog. Then they saw a punk rock show one night in Hollywood and had the revelation that they could play their own music. Boon would write phrases on scraps of paper and Watt would put these to music. Watt would write songs with beginnings, middles, and ends. D. Boon would write songs with just verse and chorus. The songs were short, often less than a minute long. They would write solos into the songs so the other players could rest. Boon had a thing about ideas and principles; he and Watt would talk and argue about everything, even having to pull over at a library while driving between towns on tour to resolve a debate they were having about European History. They philosophized that their world was divided into two parts; Gigs and Flyers. Gigs were the shows. Flyers were everything else which would get people to the shows. Records, radio, videos; these were all flyers to the Minutemen. Six Minutemen songs are featured: A History Lesson Part 2 and Jesus and Tequila from Hollywood’s legendary Cathay De Grande and No 1. Hit Song, Martin’s Story, The Big Foist, and Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs were captured at The Olympic Auditorium.
Paul Roessler formed Twisted Roots in 1981 after the demise of the Screamers. The original lineup featured Paul’s sister Kira on bass and Pat Smear of the Germs on guitar. The band enjoyed instant success as a punk rock super-group followed by a period of chaos emerging with a new lineup featuring Dez Cadena of Redd Kross, Black Flag and The Misfits on guitar. This lineup would soon metamorphosize into DC3. Roessler was heavily influenced by Public Image Limited and took to heart Johnny Rotten’s philosophy that it was about musical anarchy not political anarchy. The songs Never Was, Mommy’s Always Busy in the Kitchen, and Love Your Friends were captured in May of 1984 at the Music Machine in West Los Angeles
Redd Kross were teenagers from Hawthorne, CA who started playing shows with Black Flag while some of the members were still in Junior High School. Though they gigged with punk bands from the South Bay, they felt that they were outsiders because they were obsessed with pop culture and felt more of a connection with rock star persona than their punk rock peers. Three songs were filmed at the Pomona Valley Auditorium in June 1984: Janus, Jeanie, and George Harrison, Linda Blair, and Annette’s got the Hits. The band at the time consisted of two pairs of siblings: Jeff and Steve McDonald and Dave and Vicki Peterson of The Bangles temporarily replacing the freshly departed Dez Cadena before guitarist Robert Hecker joined the group. This was Peterson’s only show with the group.
Videographer Dave Travis grew up in Los Angeles where his dad worked as a cameraman for NBC and CBS news as well as TV shows such as “Chips” and “Fantasy Island.” When he was 15 his dad handed down to him an old video camera and he began shooting punk rock shows in Los Angeles. He eventually became a freelance video editor, working on projects such as Black Flag’s “Slip It In” video as director and editor, “1991 the Year Punk Broke” featuring Sonic Youth and Nirvana as editor, the Kurt Cobain memorial for the 94 MTV Music Awards as editor, and many more. Travis also ran a recording studio with his sister, bassist Abby Travis, called Tarantula Ranch and in the mid ‘80s helped pioneer the desert Generator Shows.
Travis captured punk bands on video in L.A. for 14 years until 1997 when he decided to put down his camera. In 2000 he became a teacher with stints at John Adams Middle School teaching World and U.S. History and Santee Education Complex, a High School in South Central, L.A. teaching History and Economics. After spending nearly a decade as a teacher, Travis re-united with his passion for video and began digitizing and restoring his old footage. “A History Lesson Part One” is the first fruit harvested from his archive.
For booking contact
booking@ahistorylesson.com
For general information contact
video@ahistorylesson.com
For video services contact
video@ahistorylesson.com
To sign up for the mailing list:
list@ahistorylesson.com
La Cita
336 S. Hill St. (across from Angel’s Flight)
Los Angeles, CA www.lacitabar.com
This month’s Velvet Lounge is gonna be hotter than the weather featuring Nica Tine churning out some Boss Jamaican sounds, Frankie the Face making a public appearance from his Secret Affair, and local L.A. Icon Lee Joseph of Dionysus Records making his rounds around town and stopping by to lay some tracks down!
Come by after the Dick and Jane Family Orchestra set at the Lotus Light Arts Fundraiser!
Next Month Velvet Lounge will have the 45 Flying Dutchman: Kula Baker, Powder from the old school days of L.A. Mod, Rocksteady Lounge’s Nina and Viktor plus… many others! Tell your friends and spread the word, cause The Velvet Lounge is still here and is 100% drama free!
Lotus Light Artswishes to raise $2000 for the amazing curriculum that will help them bring yoga and art to at-risk teen women. Your $5 donation at the door will be a much appreciated contribution to helping us bring much needed healing and healthy life tools to the under-served in our LA community. Tony’s is also being gracious enough to give Lotis Light Arts a percentage of liquor sales, so please have a good time – but of course, drink responsibly!
3 FANTASTIC BANDS:
7:00 Neil Morrow in Memphis 54(with our dear friend Ronnie Mendoza on guitar!)
8:00 The Dick and Jane Family Orchestra (with our dear friend Lee Joseph on bass!)
9:00 The Jane Doe’s
Tony’s is a full bar with a wide selection of whiskey, great atmosphere and FREE PARKING!!!
There will be RAFFLES for some great pieces of ART from local artists, gift baskets, GIFT CERTIFICATES from places such as Malo, Wacko / Soap Plant …and more…
A few art, yoga clothing and t-shirt VENDORS will also be there!
$50 gift certificate from Malo
$25 gift certificate from Wacko / Soap Plant Aveda gift basket
Mosaic art pieces from artist Leigh Adams
Watercolors from artist, Kara Hamer A vintage condom machine from the ’50’s
2 cds by fantastic Runyan Canyon Yoga teacher, Daniel Overberger
The Dick and Jane Family Orchestra
Other Ways to Help:
*Pass this invite along to everyone!
*Pass along our website info: http://www.lotuslightarts.org
*Volunteer as a yoga or art instructor for us! (contact info@lotuslightarts.org)
*Donate yoga or art supplies
*Donate something for the raffle
*Sell your art, jewlery, crafts, etc. at the fundraiser
Most importantly, PLEASE ATTEND! Your presence and support mean the world to me. Plus, it will be lots of fun!!!
Free concerts at California Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles on the 2nd Friday of every month. The program includes performances by local emerging indie bands. The concert series is a collaborative effort by the Downtown Music Project, lafreebee, Isgoodmusic, SideCho Records, Dramaturgy Promotions, Casa Downtown and the artists themselves.
from Hamburg Press Review: Azalia Snail appeared on the stage. Right away at the beginning one felt that the audience would be given a special performance, even if only for four songs. While building a pedestal with a silver cover, over which she put her little white synthesizer, this feeling was only further strengthened. Azalia Snail, who was formerly known as the “Queen of lo-fi,” did not actually need to do very much to place the audience under her spell. Already the first song, Golden Slumbers, fascinated with the typical mix of Azalia Snail church organ and psychedelic indie sounds.
Neumusic review: Azalia Snail has been making her uniquely sweet, viscous, noise-inflected, tempo-bending psychedelia for almost two decades, recording a dozen or so albums between 1990 and 2006 on labels including Funky Mushroom and Dark Beloved Cloud. She’s back with a disc on Silver Lake’s experimental True Classical Records, a dense haze of swooning vocals and seething synths cut by abrasive swaths of indie guitar mayhem. The music has its share of discordant moments and harsh textures, but somehow these are enveloped in a softening sheen; as Snail sings in the opening track, it is “Heavy mental/ Honeysuckle gentle.”
Joining Azalia for her LA shows will be sax players Emily St Amand Poliakoff and Anastasia Shepherd.
Azalia Snail is a recipient of a LA Weekly Music Award for “Best New Genre.” She has toured the USA, Europe, Japan, and New Zealand. She has jammed with Beck, The Black Heart Procession, The Grifters, Trumans Water, Low, and many other unique musical artists.
Cocktail Party #5 Saturday May 22nd 8pm till Late e3RD Lounge 734 East 3rd St. LA CA 90013
Ode to Jazz – A Classic Old Fashioned Cocktail Party in Downtown LA
Live Music by Drew Lesso
Fine Art by Erik James
MC Emmeric Konrad
Old Vintage Visuals by Terry Ellsworth
Blacklight Art by Jerico
On Thursday, May 13, in conjunction with Downtown Art Walk, “California Surf, ” a site-specific art installation by black light artist Jerico Woggon will go on display at the Museum of Neon Art – Downtown Los Angeles.
Born and raised at the beach in Summerland, California, surfing was a childhood activity that became Jerico’s passion into adulthood. Currently living in Downtown LA, Jerico still derives inspiration from images related to nature, the beach, and surfing which is a major influence in his black light art. The surfing theme will continue inside in the lobby gallery with neon works by Larry Manson, Richard Ankrom and Randy Noborikawa.
Following the MONA opening and Downtown Artwalk, Join Jerico and friends for Jerico’s Art Bar, a Thursday Night Mellow Mixer Downtown LA at Boyd Street Bar and Grill for Jerico’s Art Bar: 410 Boyd St. LA CA 90013
This Sunday, May 2nd at Lost Souls Cafe! midnight spirographs is pleased to announce that upcoming events will be held in various locations in downtown Los Angeles! The May 2nd event will be held at Lost Souls Cafe and will feature artwork by Micah McKinley and Jennifer Dowland, photography by rEfection_b and music by in house DJ Logarithm and guest DJ Lee of Dionysus Records. Lost Souls Cafe will give happy hour discounts to all Midnight Spirographs attendees!
DATE: Sunday, MAY 2, 2010
LOCATION: LOST SOULS CAFE – 124 West 4th Street (in the alley)
Suggested donation: $5 (and toilet paper donations are also encouraged) ALL OF THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO THE MIDNIGHT MISSION. The next midnight spirographs will be held at the Hi-Lite artist collective in downtown Los Angels. For you artists out there looking for a studio space, there is one studio/creative office space available for May 1 it’s $450/300 s.f. Check out their website and contact either Sam or Billy if you are interested! http://thehi-lite.com/ See you Sunday!
Jerico Presents Cocktails and Art Adventure Series – Ode to The Bohemian “The Beat Generation” Cocktail Party # 4
Saturday April 24 , 8pm-LATE
e3rd Lounge
734 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles CA 90013
Ph – 213-680-3003
LA Artists Celebrate the Downtown Renaissance with an Ode to the Bohemian Event!
Featured Musical Guests, and Artists:
Emmeric Konrad- Art Event MC
Sia Aryai- Foto Nostalgia ” The Pin Up Experiment”
Dick and Jane- Urban Folk
Dj Lee Joseph – Records of the Beat Generation
Vj Terry Ellsworth – Vintage Visuals
Cristian the Blacksmith – Live Clay Sculpture
Jerico Woggon – Blacklight Art Installation
Featured Poets :
Richard McDowell “The Poet Laureate of Downtown LA 2009”
Jiggsaw
Beanie Manifesto
Tiger Moon
Bus Stop Prophet
Cocktail Napkin Art Invitational Vol #3
The last 2 shows we had over 200 artists join our Cocktail Napkin Art Dept. We provide the pens and the napkins
Admission
$10 donation or $5 Bucks with recession story of 75-100 words, written prior or at the door or JERICO’S RECESSION CONFESSIONAL (brought to you by INSURGENCY INC), easy way to save a few bucks, step into the booth and tell us your hard luck story. Live Confessions will be featured at www.insurgencyinc.comfollowing the event.
Bohemians, Lofts and Downtown Los Angeles
This night honors “The Beat Generation,” who defined freedom of expression on so many levels. Taking themselves to higher states of conciseness using simple tools such as the American road, a glass of wine, caffeine and a typewriter; the new bohemians of their time broke ground for us. The typewriter is now a keyboard, but the beat still goes on — we are in the same circus with a different set of clowns. Since 1978, the artists of our time have come to Downtown Los Angeles with that same pioneer spirit, following the “low rent” dream. This is the artist family tree, growing and sinking its creative roots into the soil of Downtown Los Angeles. We gather to celebrate the Bohemian lifestyle in our Year of 2010 with an event that has its roots in 1940’s. This is rise of the Renaissance of Downtown Los Angeles that is at the core root about artists living the dream. Come celebrate this special time of magic centered in the “Last Great American City.” We are the Lost Angels, we have the Beat. This is an Event to Honor the Beat Generation of the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s “Beatniks.” The Torch has been passed, and we keep it burning!
Many words about the Bohemian culture describe what is happening now in Downtown LA. The Artists are moving to Downtown LA in numbers, just like SOHO in the past. Soho was a manufacturing zone transformed into an artist in residence situation, coining the term “LOFT” in historic manufacturing buildings. At the time, artists illegally lived in these large lofts, ignoring the zoning violations, and making use of the abandon and dormant space as a result of the bad economy in New York City. This is our situation here in DTLA now. The term “Bohemian” as related to Bohemianism – i.e. describing the nontraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities – emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighborhoods.
Cocktails and Art Party #1 was Ode to The Rat Pack 1/14/10
Cocktails and Art Party #2 was Ode to The Lounge Lizard 2/27/10
Cocktails and Art Party #3 was Ode to The Blues 3/17/10
Cocktails and Art Party #4 is Ode to the Bohemian 4/24/2010
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