Up on Intraffik: April playlist

I'm up on Intraffik with my list of bands seen around Los Angeles. Check it out.

Here's the list of bands.

Garbaj Kaetz
Seasons
Schoenberg Knife Fight Ensemble
Day of the Outlaw
Princeton
Oh, The Spanish Moss
Roll the Tanks
The Dharma Bums
Jared Mees and the Grown Children
Olin and the Moon

Comments, photos and videos can be seen on the intraffik.com site.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Sebastian Junger

I'm a two day person when it comes to the Festival of Books. My first panel for Sunday was seeing Sebastian Junger. He was there to talk about his new book War.

The following bio is stolen from the program guide: Junger is the New York Times best-selling author of 'The Perfect Storm,' 'A Death in Belmont' and 'Fire.' He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award for his journalism.

Here are my notes:

He took five one month trips into the Korengal Valley.
He was with a platoon of 30-35 men.
They were attacked constantly.
The record was 13 attacks in one day.
He learned not to be a burden on others, bring enough water.
Journalist aren't encouraged to identify with military, but for one scout trip he did wear camouflage because he did not want to be a liability. For this one scouting trip, they left before dawn and came back at night and spend 12 hours not moving a muscle behind some rocks.
The book isn't about combat. It is more about courage.
As soon as you have a purpose, fear goes away.
How do intense bonds form. Welfare of the group is more important than self. If you're in a unit for months, you become family.
His fear diminished the closer he became with the group.
If one acts cowardly and the unit notices, the person will likely be sent away from the front line.
He shared certain parts of the books with the soldiers and asked for permission. These parts were about the soldiers' personal histories. He didn't want to do harm and felt it was fair. He made some changes when soldiers asked him to in regards to personal history.
Politics wasn't involved except when talking about Pakistan. The soldiers knew that Pakistan was shielding and helping the Taliban.
Believes the western world could get rid of the Taliban if it really put the effort in.
The question on getting out or staying in Afghanistan is: do you care about American soldiers or the Afghans. Mentioned that he was in Afghan in the 1990s and that Afghanistan is much safer now than back then.
When soldiers leave, they often miss the life where everything is important.

One of the soldiers he talked about was in the audience. Before the panel discussion, Junger went into the audience to talk with him and his family.

The Los Angeles Festival of Books. History: The FIght for Equality

This was an interesting panel mainly due to how the moderator (Murray Fromson) dealt with the panel. He was attempting to give each 15-20 minutes distinct segments -- though he seemed to be giving Miriam Pawel a little too much time. The audience started to get irritated. The audience actually complained during Fromson's last question for Pawel. He essentially told them to shut up.

The following is stolen from the program guide except for Miriam Pawel's who was a last minute add.

Miriam Pawel. This one is stolen from goodreads.com. She is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who spent 25 years as a reporter and editor at Newsday and the Los Angeles Times before becoming an author and independent historian.

Amy Louise Wood. Wood is a history professor at Illinois State University, with an emphasis in American cultural and intellectual history in Southern U.S. history.

Martha A. Sandweiss. Sandweiss, a professor of history at Princeton University, began her career as a museum curator and taught for 20 years at Amherst College.

The following is my summary of the panel discussion:

Sandweiss.

Wrote a book about Clarence King, a famous geologist who was married to an African American.
This might not seem strange in 2010, but this was back in the mid-1800s.
Their two girls were declared as whites.
Their two boys were declared as blacks and fought in WWI in segregated units.

Powell.

Wrote a book about Cesar Chavez.
Listened to 1,000 hours of tapes.
Heroes have flaws.
Narrative history of farm workers.
Many who joined Chavez at the beginning were purged by the 1980s.
He eventually turned on everyone. He is an example of a charismatic leader who was able to build something but not able to run it.
She found it difficult to get people to talk about Chavez.
There seemed to be conflict of direction. Chavez wanted a movement that involved all the poor. His associates wanted a farm union.

Wood.

Wrote a book about lynching, racial violence.
Came to the project when she saw photos of lynching. She wondered why would people take photos.
She found that lynching was very ritualistic. It was more than a political act, it was a cultural act.
It was an important message to whites about their racial dominance.
It aligned with such events as public executions.
Many lynchers were church-goers.
Saw lynching as a reaction to modernity.
Lynching started to die away around WWII.
Feels those who lynch have similarities with the Tea Party. (My comment: seems a bit of an extreme position to take.)

Los Angeles Festival of Books: Power and Politics

This was probably the least interesting of the panels I attended on Saturday, probably because it wasn't anything new.

Biographies stolen from the program guide.

Robert Scheer. Scheer covered presidential politics for the Los Angeles Times for 30 years. He is a regular commentator on KCRW's "Left, Right & Center" and is editor-in-chief of the online magazine Truthdig.

T.R. Reid. Ried is one of the nation's best known correspondents for his coverage of global affairs for the Washington Post and his ommentaries on NPR.

Barry Glassner. Glassner is the author of seven books on contemporary social issues, including the recently revised "The Culture of Fear."

Ronald Brownstein. Brownstein is the political director for the Atlantic Media Co. and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times.

Here are some notes from the panel discussion:

Brownstein

We've had more division in the past, '60s.
But it is hard to find a time when Washington DC has been more rigid.
We're moving to a quasi-parliamentary system where the two parties pressure members to not break rank.
This leads to bad decisions such as healthcare where all 60 Democrats were king and can get concessions.
Democrats are more diverse than Republicans. Only 50% of Democrats are liberal.
Republican base is activated. Thinks Obama is taking us on a sled ride to Sweden.
A significant part of middle America just wants to be left alone.
Feels this is similar to the Clinton era and that there is more than just racial backlash.
In 2009, Goldman Sachs is the welfare queen.
Democrats are in for a tough November.
It is impossible to get 60 votes on immigration and climate change.
Immigration reform maybe at 50 votes.
Senator Lindsey Graham is only Republican willing to negotiate.

Reid.

Doesn't see government tied in knots.
Example, saving the financial system was done quickly.
He's lived over-seas and politics are mild in the U.S. In South Korea, presidential candidates sue each other for slander.
In Britain, the media is far worse.

Glassner.

Fear dominates in politics.
No one will talk about guns due to fear-mongering.
Mentioned that whites did not vote for Obama.
Clinton years were about race: teenage mothers, welfare queens.

Scheer.

Corporate capitalism.
Disagrees with Reid. The Wall Street bailout wasn't about cooperation.
Tea Party can't stand a progressive, sensible guy, who is black.
Is Obama the community organizer or the Harvard elite?
Republicans fight for their beliefs. Democrats are not weak when they criticize their leadership. Criticism means Democrats are getting stronger.
Finance reform is only thing on agenda. We need to return to Glass-Steagall, reverse the achievements of Bill Clinton.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Water: The Past, Present and Future of our Most Previoud Resource

The panelists were (info stolen from the program guide):

Michael Hiltzik. Author of an upcoming book called 'Colossus,' which is about the Hoover Dam. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the LA Times.

Jenny Price. She gives frequent tours of the concrete L.A. River.

Steve Solomon. He is a regular on NPR. He is the author of 'Water.'

D.J. Waldie. He received the California Book Award for nonfiction, 'Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir.'

This was the best panel I went to on Saturday.

Here are some notes I took:

Steve Solomon.

Was trying to determine a resource that impacted us like oil. Thought about water.
He looked at water throughout world history.
U.S. states rose and fell due to water. Agriculture, steam engines.
3.5 billion people won't be able to feed themselves in 15-20 years because of lack of water to irrigate their crops.
India, N. China are outstripping their water.
Yemen and Pakistan, perhaps leading to terrorism.
China's ability to become a world power might lessen due to its polluted water.
The U.S. has a great deal of water even though certain regions like California lack it.
CA can be a laboratory.
How can we use current constraints.
Israel/Australia have already taken steps to deal with water shortfalls.
Chicago has roads that allow rain water to seep through, instead of running off.

Michael Hiltzik.

Was looking for a project where all the characters were dead, because a previous book he wrote about where all the main players were still alive stressed him out.
Looking for a complex system.
Water from Colorado is essentially free, it is sold below cost.
Dams highlight conflicts between farmers, fishermen, city dwellers and environmentalists.
We live today with mistakes of the past.
Hoover Dam was the largest public works of that period. The Public Works budget was only $150m. The dam cost $165m.
The dam helped create Los Angeles and San Diego.

D.J. Waldie.

Many of us live in river beds.
Rivers have shifted.
In 1914, his house would have been four feet deep in flood water.
The levy projects in the 1940s-1960s protect the city from flooding.
You can't make good water public policy if all you know is Chinatown.

Jenny Price.

Was looking for an environmental piece to write about.
Redefining nature as how we use/manage to live in a city.
The LA River paving causes pollution.
Revitalizing the river can give us green space.
80% of our rainfall goes to the Pacific Ocean. We designed the river so that we could get rid of it as quickly as possible. There should be better ways of flood control so that we can keep more of our rain water.
It is hard to make decisions if we don't even know we have a river.

My observations.

I'd call Hiltzik an idealistic progressive while I'd call Price a realistic progressive. Solomon mentioned that another major dam project (can't recall the name of the dam) eventually ended up provided a significant amount of the electricity we used to help us build our war equipment for WWII. I believe Hiltzik still attack the project, saying it didn't matter because of the damage it did later.

Price and Waldie had a disagreement. Waldie called the concrete walls around the river as levies while Price called it concrete. Price, however, realizes that if you got rid of all the concrete you'd destroy most of Los Angeles. Her goal is to try to modify the river, but leave the city intact.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Alicia Silverstone

It was a long day at the LA Times Festival of Books. I also had a 6 p.m. birthday party to attend. But as the day ended at the Festival, I decided I just had to stick around for Alicia Silverstone. She was at the Cooking Stage to talk about her book called 'The Kind Diet'.

It was an interesting talk about how shifting to a vegan diet improved her health. One note she made was that if someone just wanted to make a small shift towards a more healthy diet, they should shift to Earth Balance as a substitute for butter. One of my friends would be so happy to hear that. Well, due to that comment, I decided to buy Alicia Silverstone's book. Alicia signed the book and my friend will be getting the book come her birthday. She also told a little story about how her husband was reading about Gwyneth Paltrow's microbiotic diet and came to her all excited about this and Alicia's response was essentially, "Why are you listening to Gwyneth Paltrow and not me?" Of course, this is sort of typical of us all, isn't it? We often tend to trust others more than we trust our own friends, lovers.

And hey, in the end, it was rather cool seeing the lead actress from 'Clueless'. I heard one guy say, "I've been in love with Alicia Silverstone since the '80s." I think he meant the '90s, but I totally agree with the sentiment.

Tomorrow, April 24th and Sunday, April 25th: LA Times Festival of Books.

LA Times Festival of Books. One of my annual joys in life. I'm getting myself prepped. I am excited.

Twilight Sleep at Spaceland

It was off to see Twilight Sleep at Spaceland. I've wanted to catch one of their sets for awhile. I noticed awhile back that they were playing at Pershing Square. I wanted to go, but just couldn't make it. I believe they played a couple other times that I noticed and I just couldn't make those either. Finally, I made it to one of their sets.

What did I think? Very awesome from start to end.

Comment: I have to do something really nerdy, I'd like to introduce our new drummer.

A Movie Review: Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans. I’m not saying this is a brilliant film, but I enjoyed it. I didn’t look at my watch, trying to determine how much time remained before the film ended. Does it rank as a bit cheesy? Yes. Crabs running around, attacking folks. A Medusa who’s face looked computerized. A “release the kraken” line that borders on brilliant and silly. But set that all aside, it in a fun adventure that goes from one battle to the next. Hey, it isn’t summer yet, but it had a nice popcorn feel to it.

A woman looking to cause a traffic accident?

I was driving behind another car. We approached a red light. The woman dropped a whole car length in front of another car. The light turned green. We drove along the road. I kept a safe distance. We came to another red light. Once again, she stopped a whole car length. Looking to get rear-ended?

A Movie Review: Date Night

Date Night. I have mixed feelings about this movie. There were a lot of humorous scenes between Steve Carell (Phil Foster) and Tina Fey (Claire Foster): the two of them at a restaurant making fun of other couples, Central Park scene, at the police station. On the other hand, the movie script was rather thin. If you’re looking for a good laugh, this is a good movie to see, but just don’t expect a good storyline.

A Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon. I’m generally bias towards Pixar movies versus Dreamworks. I just find Dreamworks cartoons to have over-simplified plots. How to Train Your Dragon breaks that mold. I sat in the theater enchanted by the storyline of a young man trying to find acceptance in his tribe, displaced because he didn’t have the necessary skills – or at least his skills weren’t recognized.

I also love the fact that this movie opened with a disappointing weekend box office, but has shown remarkable legs. The American audience has learned that this is a great movie.

A Movie Review: Greenberg

Greenberg. I did not like this movie at all. Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) had few redeeming qualities. He was abusive to his friends. He was abusive to his girlfriend, Florence, (Greta Gerwig) – if she really was his girlfriend. I’m not even sure what she found attractive in him. In the movie, she said it was because he wanted to do nothing. Maybe that is intriguing, but he was also a cruel person. I was totally with Florence’s girlfriend who questioned why she was in such a relationship. I suppose one could argue that this is a great movie, because it realistically looks at a person who is really messed up emotionally. I argue it isn’t, because someone so messed up would be totally abandoned by his friends.

Up on Intraffik: Ill too often this winter

I'm up on intraffik.com with an article on the Los Angeles music scene during the winter months.

Homeless Woman Changing at a Gas Station

I am at a gas station, early morning. I notice a homeless woman (40-ish and over-weight) next to the air pump/water machine. The gas attendant is near her, acting somewhat agitated. Then homeless woman is changing out in the open. She’s commando. She takes off her shirt first, gets a shirt from her bag; she takes off her sweats. The gas attendant in some frustration decides to just walk away. I look around me; all the drivers are looking in the opposite direction of the homeless woman.

Underwater City People and Get Set Go at Old Towne Pub

It was off to Old Towne Pub to catch Underwater City People and Get Set Go.

I went a few weeks back but had to leave before Get Set Go went on stage, because their start time was going to be past midnight. Well, this time around went a bit better as they started their set at around 11:30 p.m. Awesome.

As for Underwater City People, this is a band I've followed for awhile. They're about to release an album.

Underwater City People








Get Set Go

Silent Star and Helen Stellar at Spaceland

After watching Duke beat Butler for the national championship, I headed off to Spaceland to check out some bands. I wanted to catch Mere Mortals, but when I got there I found out that they were replaced with a band called Silent Star.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Silent Star. They had an old time fashion taste associated with them. It was a good time. Amusing moments . . . the lead singer had some issues with microphone. He accidentally disconnected his microphone from the cord. He mentioned that he tended to do that at least once during every set. Another time he fumbled with his microphone stand. Then during an acoustic song, he suffered through some feedback.

Next up was Helen Stellar. They're the residency band for April. Shoegaze. I do have a soft spot for shoegaze. Lights were turned down for most of the set. During one song the lead singer asked for the lights to get turned up. For a brief moment, some bright strobe-like lights beamed before they reset to brighter lights than previously but not strobe-like bright. I hate when Spaceland does something like that. I think a lot of other folks didn't like it either, because I heard some brief protests. Luckily, it was only a brief second. I guess it is how the lighting system works at Spaceland.


Silent Star





Helen Stellar

A movie review: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland. I simply loved this movie. I enjoyed it from the start to the end. First off, it is just beautiful eye candy. The colors, sets are just a joy. Second off, the acting is wonderful. I think the movie works because of Mia Wasikowska (Alice). Wonderfully acted. Third off, I just loved the storyline. I loved the storyline of Alice having to save Wonderland from the evils of the Red Queen.

The Mo-odds, Madison Bloodbath, The Slow Death at Blue Star

It was off to Blue Star Café to catch some bands. I ended up getting lost. I was day dreaming as I was driving down the 5 freeway. Instead of taking the 10 West, I ended up taking the 10 East. Oops. I learned rather quickly enough that I had no clue how to get to Blue Star from where I was. In fact, I believe I nearly got a traffic ticket from a cop as I was going here and there. Finally, I just got back on the freeway and did this strange loop around Los Angeles.

All this led me to missing the first band of the night, which I heard was good.

The next band up was The Mo-odds. Here’s the interesting story about their set. I was standing in front of the stage. Someone was playing around with my pants. I was like, “Man, who’s doing that?” I looked around, no one was around me. Who was it? It was Jonah, kicking at the bass drum. The air was forced out and shooting right for my pants.

Madison Bloodbath was up next. Comment of the night, “Maybe I should come down among the peasants.”

The final band of the night was The Slow Death. They were on tour and were stopping by in Los Angeles. Second comment of the night, “I hope this isn’t like Riverside and we end up playing during a fist fight.”

It was a fun night though also a chilly night out at the Blue Star.

The Mo-odds







Madison Bloodbath





The Slow Death

At a grocery store

I was at a grocery store on Saturday. I had a couple of items so I went to the express lane.

In front of me was a guy with four Yoplait yogurt bottles and sausages. He asked that each Yoplait yogurt get rung up separately. So the cashier would run through a yogurt, the guy would put in his phone number for the membership card, then he'd run his credit card/debit card. He did this a couple times. I noticed he was putting the yogurts into a plastic bag so he'd obviously had done this a few times already. He had a couple yogurts left and his sausages. The cashier asked if he wanted to continue. He said no and took his unpaid yogurt and sausages and went to the back of the line -- I suppose he felt uncomfortable holding up the line.

Why was he doing this? I have no clue.

Duke Basketball vs. Butler: 61-59

We are the national champions!!!

Intense. I was on the edge of my seat nearly the whole game. Interestingly, I just slumped back for the last 30 seconds or so. I was just too stressed out. I was just too worried. I didn't want to look.

I will say I’m amazed this game was so close, which says a lot about Butler. I believe it was Bill Walton, interviewed on a radio station that said, “Duke had the better offense. The better defense. The better coach. And yet Butler nearly won the game.” I totally agree. The first half was a time spent figuring out each other, but it seemed to me that Duke just wanted to blow out Butler in the second half, but it just never happened. The knock out punch was there, but it just failed to strike.

And then we were left with that near miracle heave from half court by Gordon Hayward.

What I found most interesting about the game was the last 2:30 minutes when Duke was up by 5. It looked to me that Duke decided to place a bet. They were up by only two possessions. They decided to milk the clock instead of playing at their normal speed. It obviously worked out, but I was worried that they were playing too conservatively too early. Also, the Brian Zoubek missed second free throw with about three seconds left was totally strategy. It was basically saying we’re either going to win it or lose it here. We’re going to miss that shot and hopefully take a whole second off the clock and then see how quickly Butler can take the ball down the court for a good three point shot. All calculated strategy that worked. All Coach K.

Things I loved: The defense put on Gordon Hayward. I think we had Butler figured out in the second half, but I don’t think Butler had us figured out. Our fourth national championship. The fact that this was a very unexpected championship. The fact that I consider this a miracle season.

Things I didn’t love: I’ve got to throw in one final criticism for the year; Duke wasn’t able to put away Butler like I thought they should have in the second half. I remember listening to the announcers around the five minute mark saying that it looked like Duke was trying to put this game away. I agree. It just didn’t happen, which is my way of praising Butler.

Update 4/6. Regarding Kyle Singler, in my mind, he has to test the market and see where he stands in terms of the draft. If he is a lottery pick, he should take it. If he comes in as a low first round pick he should probably stay another year, because he could slip to the second round. If he's somewhere in between, well that's a tough choice to make.

Duke Basketball vs. West Virginia: 78-57

First off, after initial reports being that Da'Sean Butler might only have a sprained knee, it looks like the injury is much worse. I believe I heard him scream, "I can't walk. I can't walk." That was extremely painful to hear.

I cannot believe what a great game Duke played. I think as many commentators have said, this was the best game Duke's played this year. You had the Big Three hitting shots: Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith. My constant issue with Duke not having an inside presence in terms of scoring was blown up as they drove into the key almost at will as well as the fact that the big men got some scores down low. Brian Zoubek grabbed some awesome rebounds and then tossed the ball out for three-point shots (though honestly, I think he should have gone up for a shot on one or two of those rebounds, and he may have even gotten fouled for a potential three point play from the free throw line -- I believe that when open you've got to go for the 99% shot versus the 50% shot.)

Yes, Butler got hurt with about 9 minutes to go, but this game was already over at that point. It should also be noted that the intensity of the game declined dramatically after the injury. You could just tell that Duke had total control of the game. As for Joe Mazzulla who got cocky in the 2008 game and actually was a bit cocky in a pre-game interview, was held to 2-5 shooting for 4 points as well as 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 turnovers. Essentially, not a great stat line.

Admittedly, this game would have been closer if West Virginia hadn't lost their starting point guard, but that is life.

In the end, an amazingly solid game by Duke. If they play this way on Monday, they'll be cutting down the nets. Peaked too soon? From a Duke fan, I hope their peak play comes on today.

up on intraffik.com: March Playlist

I am up on intraffik.com with my March Playlist.

The local bands listed are:

The Resonant Heads
The Ignorant
We Barbarians
The Union Line
The Hundred Days
Bathroom Murders
The Truth
Vas Defrans
Tommy Peacock
Hydrovibe

Check out the link for photos, videos and a small write-up.

Up on intraffik.com: Dead Rose Beauty

I am up on intraffik.com with an article on Dead Rose Beauty

Metric, Nico Vega and Codine Velvet Club at Palladium

Will probably be doing some on intraffik.com about this night so just some photos of the night.

Nico Vega





Codeine Velvet Club



Metric