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SOMA MAGAZINE, the internationally acclaimed magazine of culture, fashion, and the arts. From film to music, fashion, literature, architecture, design, and beyond, SOMA applies its unique blend of intelligence and whimsy to all aspects of the urban lifestyle. For new subscribers mention flavorpill to receive a special offer of ten issues for $10.
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| | Arty yet not art rock. Cello-wielding yet not chamber pop. Sea Ray are one of those hard-to-classify indie-rock bands that all your friends would listen to — if only you could intelligently explain why. The easy way out: a fusion of the mid-'90s shoegazer and alternative-rock scenes that produced everyone from the Ocean Blue to Tindersticks to Radiohead. Montreal's the Stills headline the evening with a familiar, catchy brand of anglicized indie-pop. Their major-label debut, Logic Will Break Your Heart, is one of the few examples of its ilk to float in the wake of Interpol. (JSS)
  
 Which record label released the Stills' Logic Will Break Your Heart? The first five correct answers each win a pair of tickets to this event.
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| | The adage that any publicity is good publicity was certainly borne out in
the brouhaha surrounding Danger Mouse. By simply blurring together a couple
of landmark records — The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's
The Black Album — the soft-spoken, LA-based DJ also known as
Brian Burton has gone from underground hip-hop mixologist to Primetime
Live subject. The legal debate between Burton and the owners of the
Beatles' back catalogue may rage on, but DM still comes out on top, having
forced copyright and freedom of expression issues back into the mainstream
— all while showcasing his intense skills to hip-hop heads and
curiosity seekers. (KT)
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| | Celebrating a Warholian mix of '60s talk show camp and oddball style, the B-52's have produced some of American pop's unlikeliest iconic tracks. The proprietors of tongue-in-cheek lesbian slang, burlesque drama, and outlandish stage antics promote a come-as-you-are vibe, or at least a venue to belt out botched versions of the ear-worm lyric "tin roof rusted." Accompanied by their musical spawn, NYC's Scissor Sisters. (HC)
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| | As one-half of the "too chill to be ill" soundsystem Rockers Hi-Fi, Glyn "Bigga" Bush was greatly responsible for fostering the UK's mid-'90s fascination with the dub-wise chill-out room aesthetic — before the yawns and bottle service killed it. On his new BiggaBush album, BiggaBush Free, he dilutes similar elements, namely soulful light-jazz melodies, pan-global rhythms, and minor-league house beats. Because his Lightning Head persona gets far testier with the futuristic dancehall and Afrobeat vibes, BiggaBush's rare DJ appearance at the Transistor Lounge party just might throw down with an intensity that kids raised on Jazzanova can't imagine. (PO)
Who formed Rockers Hi-Fi with Glyn "Bigga" Bush? The first three correct answers each win a pair of tickets to this event.
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| | Long Night's Journey Into Day is a gripping look at how South Africa deals with the guilt and guilty of apartheid. It follows the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, formed to provide a forum for those guilty of racial crimes to confess to those affected by their actions. The inherent drama in each case — a white cop who murdered black activists, a black activist who killed a white American student — proves wrenching, like a real-life Rashomon. The confessions open as many wounds as they close, making the personal hauntingly universal in the process. (MD)
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| | To be blunt, pit any C-list Factory Records band against Mission of Burma and it's close to a draw. While yes, Burma do boast three of the greatest post-punk singles ever ("That's When I Reach for My Revolver," "Academy Fight Song," and "Progress"), their status as post-punk royalty primarily stems from being the only notable US band to pick up on the academic punk of UK art schools in the late '70s. Shockingly, the band's reunion has been an unequivocal success, and the Boston outfit's comeback album, ONoffON is even more so. (YS)
Following the breakup of Mission of Burma, Roger Miller and Martin Swope formed which avant-rock group? The third and fifth correct answers each win a pair of tickets to this event.
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DJ
Forestry Service One-Year Anniversary
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| when: | Thur 6.10 (9pm) |
| where: | Little Temple (4519 Santa Monica Blvd, Silverlake, 310.396.5130) |
| price: | $5 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | Stationed for the past year at Vine in Hollywood, the monthly DJ night known as Forestry Service heads east to the Little Temple. FS creators Rob Schroeder and Ben Barnes have assembled a crew of underground electronica all-stars to help celebrate their first anniversary and a future filled with new possibilities. Special guests Thavius Beck, Cockamamie, Adventure Time (Daedelus and Frosty), and Octavius join DJs Boom Bip, Dntel (of Postal Service fame), and Jun. The program ranges from the incongruous and outlandish to the warm and enchanting, but is always rich and inventive enough to send you straight into pure electronic bliss. (JLO)
Give us an example of seeing, or not seeing, the forest for the trees. Our two favorite answers each win a pair of tickets to this event and a Forestry Service CD.
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| | In these heady times of digital media, interactivity is the buzzword du jour. But the artists involved in Interchange take that idea far beyond the mere pushing of buttons or simple video feedback, challenging the idea of the passive audience. The group of multimedia, performance, and installation artists assembled by curator D. Jean Hester for this one-night event has been charged with incorporating the audience into the content of the works, with all of the unpredictability and controlled chaos that implies. As either voluntary performers or the source of improvised soundtracks, no one gets out without becoming art. (SND)
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| | In this audio-visual documentary, Aussie filmmakers Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma explore cultures around the world that experience spiritual transformation through dance and rhythm. For many, dancing is a drug. There is a common underlying experience that suggests we humans may even be programmed for such physical bliss. Tonight's US premiere is presented as part of the Dance Camera West Film Festival. Watch the movie communally and enjoy the grooves of Afro-Cuban percussion ensemble Emikeke and DJs Jason Bentley (BossaNova, KCRW), Janaka (Dhamaal Soundsystem-SF), and Patrick Harvard (Southern California Dance Collective.) (RK/QofV)
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| | With Andy Kaufman really, truly, and actually dead, a handful of "alternative" comics have floated to the surface to fill the void. One such act is Neil Hamburger, a bespectacled comic in a bad tuxedo with a permanently wet comb-over — Tony Clifton with one-tenth the moxie and even less sass. What's left is a foul-mouthed string of intentionally weak one-liners, awkward silences, and prolonged throat clearings. Like most lounge acts gone bad, annoying the audience seems to be the goal, and Hamburger is at his best when unleashed on an unwitting crowd. Invite some office friends while you sneak off to the bar to watch the bombs fly. (JCF)
Who once wrote, "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." The second correct answer wins a pair of tickets to this event.
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| | This 1996 anime classic from Mamoru Oshii feels more prescient and influential than ever: The Matrix bogarted mightily from Oshii's head-tripping techno-dystopian odyssey. Building on the speculative worlds explored in sci-fi classics like Blade Runner, Ghost creates a nightmare that could soon be all too real: a homeland security force deals with armies of cyborgs and hackers who can break into people's minds and "burglarize" their thoughts, dreams, and memories. Obsessed with the ethical and social ramifications of artificial intelligence and uber-surveillance, Ghost asks whether the soul can exist in a society whose heart may be wired for destruction. (MD)
Ghost in the Shell is based on a manga comic book by whom? The first five correct answers each win a pair of tickets to this event.
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TOUR
Hollywood Forever Historic Walking Tour
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| when: | Sat 6.12 (12-1:30pm) |
| where: | Hollywood Forever Cemetery (6000 Santa Monica Blvd, 323.469.1181) |
| price: | $10 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | The best part about stalking the movie stars at Hollywood Forever is knowing that they'll be waiting for you. Rudolph Valentino, Wyatt Earp, John Huston, Peter Lorre, Jayne Mansfield, Cecil B. DeMille, and the guy who played Alfalfa are among the dearly departed housed in this vast, immaculately landscaped cemetery boasting mausoleums, exhibitions, monuments, and gardens. Join tour guide and film buff Karie Bible as she evokes the storied past and navigates the labyrinth of the present on this walking tour of the highlights and private spaces of Hollywood Forever. (DSM)
Note: Meet at the flower shop by the entrance.
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ART
Muse Art Walk
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| when: | Sat 6.12 (5pm-midnight) |
| where: | Silverlake Society of Authentic Arts (1085 N. Manzanita St, 877.522.6225) |
| price: | $25 |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | The latest organization to catch the self-guided art tour fever is Muse, the young collectors group at the LA County Museum. The focus may be the burgeoning art and design scenes in Los Feliz and Silverlake, but this year's event goes far beyond the already-compelling First Friday tour lineup to include not only galleries, but avant-garde businesses too. Hosted by the quirky, art-loving Juliette Lewis, the walk kicks off at the Society of Authentic Arts, which features the installation High Fashion Crime Scenes. Created by local artist Melanie Pullen, the piece plays up the sympathies between fashion, art, and death in the Hollywood Hills. (SND)
Note: Following the opening reception, the art walk takes place among the surrounding Silverlake and Los Feliz galleries.
Juliette Lewis received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for which film? The fourth correct answer wins a pair of tickets to this event.
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PERFORMANCE
Johanna Went: Aggravated Resistentialism
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| when: | Sat 6.12 (8pm) |
| where: | Track 16 Gallery (2525 Michigan Ave, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, 310.264.4678) |
| price: | $10 |
| links: |
Event Info | Johanna Went |
| | If you ever thought your computer was secretly plotting your demise, or recoiled in horror at your body's flatulent rebellion, then Aggravated Resistentialism is your call to arms. Based on the idea that both inanimate objects and our bodies often exercise their own will in opposition to our desires, pioneer performance artist Johanna Went's latest work is big, messy, baroque, over-the-top, and a little bit hysterical. (SND)
Note: This event also takes place Fri 6.11 (8pm). RSVP via phone required and seating is limited.
Johanna Went had a small role in which '90s B-movie starring James Duval and Rose McGowan? The third correct answer wins a pair of tickets to this event.
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| | In mid-March on a packed NYC stage, Brownsville's classic gangsta crew breathed new life into their acronym (which stands for Mash Out Posse) by teaming with local rockers Shiner Massive for 30 minutes of the most incendiary live hip-hop we have ever heard. The rhymes of "How About Some Hardcore" met the riffs of "Bulls on Parade" on equal ground, then exploded. If this appearance on the Weapons of Mic Destruction tour, co-starring the equally fierce and skillful Pharoahe Monch (he of "Simon Says" and Organized Konfusion fame), has half the energy and fervor of the Big Apple gig, bring your armor. (PO)
Note: Qtopia is an alcohol-free venue.
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| | Just as sci-fi finally gains some measure of critical acceptance, Hari Kunzru's second novel, Transmission, introduces wi-fi — that is, wireless fiction. With outsourcing trends pointing in the opposite direction, computer programmer Arjun Mehta reverse-migrates to Silicon Valley from India seeking the American Dream. When disillusionment strikes, Arjun unleashes a computer virus and the narrative expands globally, enveloping (by way of infection) other storylines from Britain to Bollywood. With keen cultural observations akin to Pico Iyer's and an Amis-like wit and rhythm, Kunzru writes literary fiction for the Wired set. Decide if you want to opt in as he reads tonight. (JKG)
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| | Thanks to sprawling, ambitious, and obsessively referential novels like Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace has been called his generation's Thomas Pynchon. With his prodigious skills, he has indeed found the literary pot of gold at the end of Gravity's Rainbow. Wallace stands out among his more obscurist kin thanks to a deep sense of humanity and humor (the titular essay from his collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again is his other masterpiece, a side-splitting account of a pleasure cruise). Wallace is here to present Oblivion: Stories, a new collection that represents his first published fiction in half a decade. (MD)
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| | Mia Doi Todd approaches music with a dancer's perspective, emphasizing motion, spacing, depth, and delicacy. The Silverlake native at one time studied Butoh dance in Japan, which may be why she understands that the internal life of an artist can be just as demanding as the physical. Mia has explored themes of duality, time, freedom, and unity from her coffee-shop days to her latest release with a collaborative sense that evokes a young Joni Mitchell (plus modern musical trappings). Soon Mia might be the Lady of the Silverlake Hills to Joni's Lady of Laurel Canyon. (MS)
Note: Mia Doi Todd recently collaborated under the name "Sacajawea" with Daedalus and flavorpill contributor Frosty of dublab on Adventure Time's Dreams of Water Themes.
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| | The Tomasz Stanko Quartet employ traditional instruments — trumpet, piano, double bass and drums — to nontraditional ends. Moody and soft, and at times dissonant and insistent, they are to jazz what ambient is to electronica. Slow, trippy, soulful, and somehow obviously European, the music expresses a raw emotional power that haunts like a ghost and smolders like a slow-burning ember. (SND)
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| | Acclaimed Danish director Lars von Trier, known for subjecting his characters to various onscreen indignities, finally turns his sadistic bent upon a fellow filmmaker in this 2003 face-off. With The Five Obstructions, von Trier challenges his former teacher, the indefatigable Jorgen Leth, to remake his 1967 short The Perfect Human five different times. What begins as a bland documentary in cinematic revisionism becomes a fascinating study in chaos theory as von Trier imposes an arbitrary limitation upon each of the productions, and then finally a triumph of the creative mind, as Leth overcomes each of von Trier's increasingly inane restrictions with superb results. (LG)
What is the tenth rule of Dogme95? The first five correct answers each win a pair of tickets to this event.
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ART
Unseen Messages
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| when: | Sat 6.12 - Sun 7.25 (Thur-Sat: 12-5pm) |
| where: | Transport Gallery (1308 Factory Pl, 213.623.4099) |
| price: |  FREE |
| links: |
Event Info |
| | NYC graffiti artists the Barnstormers reached legendary status by recreating their urban landscapes on the faces of deteriorating barns in rural North Carolina. Recent works from members of the collective form the basis of Unseen Messages, an east-side response to the Lab's Streetwise exhibition in Santa Monica. Doze Green blends primitive human forms into a futuristic, hip-hop-inspired world; Kenji Hirata's murals colorfully depict the five elements of ancient China; and Barnstormers founding member Dave "Skwerm" Ellis asserts a continuing affinity for the Tar Heel state with his twisting delineations on cured tobacco paper. (JSS)
Note: The opening reception takes place Sat 6.12 (7-11pm).
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| CD REVIEW: Quantic, Mishaps Happening |
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Ubiquity
Released June 2004
$16.98 (Amazon)
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Bristol's Will Holland is rocking a serious soul-jazz
revival. Last year he put together the smoking 11-piece Quantic
Soul Orchestra, and with Mishaps Happening, his third LP as
Quantic, he bursts from the revival tent into outer space. The
songwriting is top-notch, with strings, horns, guitars, marimbas,
bells, and even a banjo spattered over funky beats that span the BPM
spectrum. The title track sets things off right with a Brazilian
bounce, and the disc proceeds into pleasantly spacey downtempo
territory — by the finish, it goes almost everywhere else
as well. Standouts include the four-on-the-floor skanking funk of
"Sound of Everything," featuring frequent vocalist Alice Russell, and
the classic soul of "Don't Joke With a Hungry Man," with Philly diva
Spanky Wilson. Mishaps is definitely happening, and will make
you a soul believer. (AAM)
Which Bristol hip-hop crew appeared on Quantic's Apricot Morning album? Seventh correct answer wins a copy of this CD.
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| FASHION: James Perse Sample Sale |
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The secret passing through the minds of fashionistas in Los Angeles now spills from their lips. James Perse, the infamously comfortable, chic shirt line, is having a sample sale on Sat 6.12 from 10am-5pm at 922 N Formosa Ave. Not only tees, but pants and lacy tops perfect for layering to mold to your own personality. Don't forget to let your husbands, boyfriends, little bros, and babies tag along, as there are oodles of things for them, too. Whimsical clothing, good company, superb deals — what else could a girl, or, for that matter, any self-respecting metrosexual, possibly want? (BC)
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| STREAMS: D*I*R*T*Y |
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The Parisian D*I*R*T*Y sound system has a fanatical
allegiance to the experimental underground. The collective has earned
its street cred through the critically acclaimed Dirty
Diamonds, being the in-house music supervisors for Paris'
super-chic boutique Colette, and by consistently broadcasting mixshows
from only the hottest independent artists. But musical education is
not the only end to which they are toiling — they're also
working to showcase the experimental side of fashion and design. Site founder Guillaume Sorge has selected three of their top mixes to
dirty up your sound system. (JPLS)
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| CREDITS |
| Header Design: |
| Vermeer | Heavy | | |
| Editors: |
| Chariot | Mark Mangan | | Yoga mat | Sascha Lewis | | A great book | Shana Nys Dambrot | | Old-school ambient | Matt Diehl | | Chevette | Yancey Strickler | | Lobster bisque | Aaron Warshaw | | Tree climbing | Jocelyn K. Glei | | Sleep | Piotr Orlov | | The Concorde | Peter Stepek | | Carpet cleaner | Nick Parish | | American Idol | Lisa Rosman | | Marcel Proust | Jane Lerner | | |
ABOUT US
flavorpill LA is a free weekly mailer covering music, arts, and cultural events in Los Angeles. All listings are pure editorial, researched and written based on what we think has flavor. No money is accepted from venues, artists, or promoters. Find out more.
FEEDBACK
As always, feel free to send in any and all feedback — comments, questions, ideas, or rants. Spread the flavor...
EVENT SUBMISSIONS
Please send all interesting event information (press releases, links, etc.) to events. |
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| Contributors: |
| Shostakovich | Paul Laster | | Anime | Jay Belin | | The Matrix | Theo Watson | | Exercise | Jeff S. Safran | | Andrei Rublev | Ken Taylor | | Tantric sex | Hilary Craven | | Krumpness | Jamie L. Okubo | | Heidegger | Regan Kibbee | | Summer movies | Josh C. Forbes | | '72 Jensen Interceptor III | Daniel S. MacCannell | | Skateboarding | Michael Shawver | | Triumph motorcycle | Liam Gowing | | Wordsworth | Aaron A. Miles | | Chocolate souffle | Britt Cox | | Debussy | Jonathan P.L. Spooner |
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| Production: |
| Techno | David Morrow | | Vodka tonic | Anjuli Ayer | | Work | Keats | | Whirling | Krista Freibaum | | Dervishing | Emily A. Welsch | | Tarot | Elizabeth L. McDonald |
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MONTHLY BOOK REVIEW
Flavorpill Productions recently launched Boldtype,
an unbiased monthly review of books — sent via email. Issue eight, on luck, is out now.
Only books worth reading. Click to subscribe.
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