Behind the Scenes with Barbara

Tae-Hoon Kim’s Ceramic Friends: Cute!

2008-06-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Tae-Hoon Kim’s art is simply cute.

His collections of ceramic creatures look like they’re from their own happy universe, if not from the same strange family. Their heads are round like big, juicy honeydew melons, while their bodies are compact and genderless. Kim dresses his little friends in a colorful wardrobe, often involving a simple pattern, a lot like children’s clothes—stripes, dots, checkers. Some of them simply have hearts or bouncy letters going across their chests, like “I Love U.” Others exhibit subtle hints of their happiness—their left arm hanging up at a 90-degree angle, as if they’re perpetually waving hello to you.

“I like to make people happy,” says this Cal State Long Beach artist. “I like simplicity and childlike innocence.”

He sites Paul Klee, Damien Hirst and Pieter Bruegel as inspiration to his art. Klee’s simplicity, Hirst’s unprecedented work, and Bruegel’s pleasant colors and wit, he says, make him happy.

Most of Kim’s art is created at his corner office space found on the first floor of Fine Arts Building 2. Anybody within a 100-feet radius seems to know who he is. When I met him last Friday, his visiting friends came at random times, snapping candid shots of the giddy artist. Then his neighbor, working on a few ceramic pieces of her own, would periodically offer us bits of her rich, dark chocolate candy bar filled with chunky raisins.

This seems like a place filled with many voices and the perfect setting for constant play, but Kim, a South Korean native whose been studying at CSULB under a special student program since the summer of 2006, holds focus on a lot of things, especially his artwork.

He started showing his work in his home city of Seoul in 2005, then with moving to California shortly after he’s shown his work in dozens of art shows throughout the Orange County and Long Beach areas, including last year’s Annual Student Art Exhibition at the University Art Museum. (News broke earlier, that on May 15 his pieces will be showcased for this year's annual show.)

Kim also gained the attention of Giant Robot last year around fall, landing him a two-page feature spread in this art magazine that defines itself by covering “cool aspects of Asian and Asian-American pop culture.”

It’s a thriving idea for Kim. He’s refreshed and stimulated by American modernism and its freer customs (compared to South Korea’s constant struggle to remain traditional, he says). Here, he crosses the challenge of not being too commercial, carefully studying the balance between creating and selling.

Besides working with clay—making cute little creatures and plates and "happy pills" (these oversized capsule-looking ceramic things)—Kim also likes to paint and draw, and he spends a lot of time with learning new movies, poetry, and art. He doesn’t enjoy the fussing with traveling, but, interestingly, he's planning to make a trip to designer stores like Gucci and Ferragamo over the summer, Kim says, to study their design and “color-matching” expertise.

See all of Kim’s cute ceramic friends and "happy pills" currently showing in a joint art show with fellow ceramics artist Matt Causey in the Merlino Gallery. The show, “Dancing with Angma,” will end Thursday.

All photos were taken by Barbara Navarro in Tae-Hoon Kim's ceramics studio on Friday, April 25.

Summer Business: No Business!

2008-05-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer!

PS Enjoy the perusal through this elaborate blogging site! Though, I apoligize, the movies are without audio. Horrible, I know. Summertime, I'm looking for that right camera. More soon! ;)

Again, where's Barbara?!

2008-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

"It's finals!" Some of us are hard studying, others are hardly studying. Ouch. When things get tense like that at the Daily Forty-Niner, we simply double consumption of sweet stuff to calm the nerves.

Yummmmmmm!

Managing editor Colleen Donnelly (yellow shirt) and diversions editor Kristen Crawford wonder what cupcake they'd like to try. (They end up taking a few and sharing.)

A mouthful for Jonathan Oyama, the assistant editor at the news desk.

As for moi, I say these are the toughest weeks! First, getting through final projects and papers, along with those deep and dense studying lapses, and then finally just letting it all go. I'll be posting every now and then, but don't hold your breath!

Good luck with finals, all! And enjoy the Finals Issue that'll hit stands Monday morning.

Polls: What do the results tell us about CSULB?

2008-05-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

How often do you visit the University Art Museum?

o% (0 voters) said: I'm on their mailing list, attend opening nights and cruise the exhibits every chance I get.
36% (12 of 33 voters) said: Occasionally, when I hear about something good from professors, peers, the newspaper, etc., or when I'm curious.
15% (5 of 33 voters) said: I peek inside whenever I'm at the Horn Center.
42% (14 of 33 voters) said: Nope, nope... I can't remember being there. Maybe twice. Maybe once?
6% (2 of 33 voters) said: Where is the UAM?

How far do you go to have a good time? (Note: Voters were allowed to select multiple answers.)

25% (2 of 8 voters) said: I should have my own private jet by now.
37% (3 of 8 voters) said: I go to local places where everybody knows my name.
75% (6 of Nearby cities are a comfortable distance.
o% (0 voters) said: I stick to whatever's going on at campus.
12% (1 of 8 voters) said: I don't go out. Tell me... What's going on outside CSULB?

Thank you for voting, CSULB!

Insights @ the CSULB University Art Museum

2008-05-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Photos by Barbara Navarro.

Delta Spirit: We keep missing each other

2008-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pretty close to the final week of classes—and with an abnormal abundance of work to come with it—I just couldn’t resist: An invitation to see Delta Spirit! They had played a benifit show with We Barbarians (and their special guests the Cold War Kids!) just about a month ago, but I didn’t stick around for their set. Sorry about that, Delta Spirit. So, with a recent ring-a-ding-ding to the office some time Thursday afternoon about extra tickets for the Delta Spirit show—that they’d be playing a sold out show with SoCal swooner Matt Costa, and, yeah, this blog is no stranger to him either—I couldn’t resist; I accepted the tickets for the show at the El Rey and that was that.

BUT. But, it was as if the cosmos were sending me a message. Valet was an unfit $20 that night. A parking structure around the corner was charging a shiny bit, too—$15! I’m sorry, Delta Spirit. Again. Our two worlds get so close, but haven’t collided. YET.

I did what any curious music-enthuse would do, anyway. I went over to Fingerprints and bought a copy of “Ode to Sunshine,” Delta Spirit’s most current LP. After cruising around listening to their CD for about a day now, I can already tell: It makes sense why this band is becoming a hit.

For starters, the San Diegan band’s managed by the same people who manage The Shins and White Stripes. Would that mean they’ve got the same sound??

Delta Spirit is not that noisy out-of-control kind of rock. Drunk, maybe. But rattly and obnoxiously embellished, no. Delta Spirit are classified as a cool mesh of indie pop and alternative country music. Can you dig that? Think Matt Costa’s sound with some more sweat and a ruffled rasp, plus an expanded band.

Fingerprints carry that rare record, “Ode to Sunshine,” and I recommend it if you’re into wearing cowboy boots for kicks on your way to the beach for sepia-toned sunsets.

My favorite song off the album? “House Built for Two.” Maybe I’ll see the band play it live when they roll back into Los Angeles with their new release coming this summer. I’m counting on it!

For now, I’ve got to shoot right into the middle of studying for my final exams.

Special thanks to Jill at 7-10 Music for calling the ‘Niner. ;) And another thank you to Dustin at Fingerprints for always helping me find the music!

Listen to the Delta Spirit on KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic here. Delta Spirit on MySpace: aqui.

DELTA SPIRIT RETURNS TO LOS ANGELES ON AUG. 8. SEE THEM AT THE EL REY WITH DR. DOG.

Photos from the Internet.

Sooooo very Perez Hilton of me: Seperated at Birth

2008-05-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Left: La Lohan in dark tresses. Right: Famous Mexican singer Veronica Castro, on TV tonight for "Noche con las estrellas," or "Night with the Stars."

LB author, poet Paul G. Maziar tells me his secrets!

2008-05-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

Barbara is on Pacific Time: 8 p.m., San Pedro. Feeling spy-like, password: Mommy.

That's almost a line from Paul G. Maziar's book "What It Is: What It Is." I found it at {Open} Bookstore in Long Beach in late March, right after visiting Matt Maust's teeny art show going on inside. Maust, being 1/4 of the Cold War Kids, as well as an extraordinary graphic artist, collaborated with the prose writer that is Maziar and voila: "What It Is: What It Is."

In preparing a book review of Maziar's latest, I got in touch with the author where he revealed more on his book's title, his friendship with Maust and his relationship with Long Beach (and what it means to come back). You'll be able to find my review of "What It Is: What It Is" in Monday's paper. For now, here are a few excerpts taken from our correspondence:

On his relationship with Long Beach...
My relationship with Long Beach has been on an elevator. The place stirs my mind and all my senses, (and) so far has been the place where I’ve been the most productive as a writer.

Where he hangs out in Long Beach...
My favorite place to get a burrito is La Taqueria, I think it’s the best.

On the title of the book, "What It Is: What It Is"...
The title of the book is partly nonsense jive, which we wanted to be something fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Plus Maust and I have long been saying “What it is?” as a greeting to each other and friends.

On meeting Matt Maust...
The first time Maust and I met, we hit it off— talking about music and art and books. When he began showing me some things he has been inspired by as an artist— I realized it would make perfect sense to collaborate on our own project. Two years, and a few versions of WHAT IT IS later, here we are.

On Matt Maust...
Maust is an immense talent, someone who’s so true to what he does he is at all times a creative soul— in various ways, whether it is in speech, comradery, travel, or interpreting music/art/literature.

Mingle with Paul G. Maziar and his special musical guests, along with Matt Maust, at the {Open} Bookstore tonight in Long Beach.

Visit Maziar's MySpace page for the complete 411 and flyer. The event is free and truly one of a kind. (http://www.myspace.com/whatitisbook)

Book cover by Matt Maust, courtesy of Paul G. Maziar. Other photos by Barbara Navarro.

ISM: In Long Beach, they're totally an IN-ism

2008-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Juicy bits of those ISM magazines do a good job of catching my eye whenever I shop at my favorite local bookstores. How I wish every bookstore anywhere carried these 8-by-6-inch, colorful things. The magazine stands for something interesting, coming from an official non-profit organization and all, and it’s got even more interesting content, always pushing forward local artistes (writers, photographers, painters and the like) into the limelight with interviews and full-colored spreads.

But looking beyond the soft matte finish of the magazine, and looking beyond the simple ISM logo stamped across every one of their covers, I found an even greater community that simply calls itself ISM. Altogether they are, in fact, “ISM: A Community Project.”

What do they do as a community? Party and celebrate their fabulous existence, for one. To embellish the atmosphere, they do a good deed of hanging their even more fabulous collectibles—photography art and such. Everybody who contributes to the magazine, and those people whose names we see on the masthead, gather their things and shower them into various local art galleries, leaving their mark as ISM: Gallery.

And the parade doesn’t stop there, they have their own place online, too—ISM: Online, a place outside the random, every-now-and-then ISM: Gallery gatherings or the even rarer two-times-a-year business of the ISM: Magazine.

During spring break, I had the happy chance of joining the fun at the ISM: Gallery, taking residence inside Long Beach’s Koo’s Art Center on Broadway. Apparently, the two—Koo’s and ISM—have been sharing space for the last two exhibits heard of out of this place (“Hello, My Name Is” and “Shudder,” the one that kicked off my weekend of spring break), so it’d be healthy speculation if eventually Koo’s turned into ISM’s.

ISM’s relentless affection of breaking into Long Beach art scene seems to be working for them, especially with their latest exhibit, the fashionable-looking “Prelude,” which will open on Sunday at Koo’s Art Center, or the ISM: Gallery. So, if you’re into fashion, and the fashion shows of late on campus aren’t cutting it for you, then perhaps this will satisfy your fashionista appetite and should also quench your curiosity of who or what exactly ISM is all about.

Kevin Staniec, founder and executive creative director of ISM, will be in full swing on the 11th, catering to all Long Beach art darlings. He’ll be presenting new artists to the ISM: Wall (something described as an ISM ritual), and the night will be lit up by the fashions created by UCLA students for their fashion show FAST.

ISM says they’re promising that everybody will be sharing oohs and ahhs over the original sketches on display, the runway shows, over-the-top accessories, the one of a kind wearable masterpieces... All of which will be lovingly showcased. But if this event will turn out to be as fun as “Shudder’s” opening, I’ll come prepared with my best face for all the fun photo booth action and my dancing shoes for the hot DJ music.

RSVP for Sunday night's opening of "Prelude" like a VIP at ISM: Online. (www.ISMcommunity.org/)

All photos were taken by Barbara Navarro at the opening of "Shudder" on Saturday, March 29.

The yummy Frosted Cupkery: Minutes from CSULB, seconds from Cindo de Mayo!

2008-05-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yummy! Frosted Cupcakery, found minutes away from Cal State Long Beach, tucked along a street cruising off the ever-popular Belmont Shore strand (at Second Street and Claremont Avenue), you can find this tasty cupcake (yeah, the one in the picture), lovingly dubbed the Flavor of the Month.

I stopped in today to try it. The cupcake's fluffy white cake is frosted with a rich, "Mexican-inspired" frosting (officially "Mexican chocolate buttercream"), flecks sprinkled around. There's even a miniature paper Mexican flag swinging on top. But, don't be scared that you'll miss out. The cupcakery worker assured me that the cupcake would be around well past the Cinco de Mayo holiday. (Durrr... Flavor of the Month, Barbara.)

As soon as I bit into this cupcake, anyway, I immediately identified this taste. My mom has used this chocolate at home countless times, I was sure. And, yes, if I had to describe the taste of this chocolate, I'd tell you to try Nestle's Abuelita, a rock hard dark chocolate that's laced with cinnamon and covered in coarse sugar.

Stop by Frosted Cupcakery to try it! (And, by the way, they also blog.) In the meantime, I'm curious...

How are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

Photos by Barbara Navarro.

Retired Material

2008-05-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Considered Connoisseur: From April 8 to May 4

Did I hear right? WILL SWAIM: The Marxist who wanted to be a priest after high school, but who was also in a punk band and then ended up editing business magazines after college? That’s what I think I heard Will Swaim (the editor in chief at the District Weekly, thankyouverymuch) say over the weekend at a journalism conference. And thank the divine superpowers for leading him into the writing world, or the alternative press more precisely, or else…? Or else! I’m not sure Long Beach would be as cool a place without this colorful little thing, the District Weekly. We all have Swaim to thank for starting it all about a year ago. Lets all help them celebrate the occasions this Friday! (More details on that at thedistrictweekly.com/.) Congratulations!

Photos taken by Barbara Navarro at JACC in Downtown LA, Saturday, April 5.

Tae-Hoon Kim’s Ceramic Friends: Cute!

2008-04-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Behind the Scenes with Tae-Hoon Kim

2008-04-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Tae-Hoon Kim's art pieces are cute!
Return for a full story on this Cal State Long Beach ceramics artist tomorrow! In the meantime, you can see Kim's art in a joint show with fellow CSULB artist Matt Causey, "Dancing with Angma," now at the Merlino Gallery.

Details of images above: (Photo, above) A random statue taking residence in Fine Arts Building 2, where Kim's ceramics studio is behind one of those doors; (video, below) sneaking around Kim's studio as he prepares his art pieces for the "Dancing with Angma" show, now at the Merlino Gallery. Both images were taken last week. Photo and video by Barbara Navarro.

Get some Satisfaction!

2008-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Self-proclaimed “deep-digging music nerds,” Satisfaction, also an OC-based music act, opened for Matt Costa Thursday night at OCPAC’s Samueli Theater. However, their sound is anything but nerdy, just flat out cool.

With their second EP “Cougars, Sharks & Flying Sparks,” these boys show off their smoky arrangements, exploring a soundscape of wrangly guitars, smooth vocals and a sweet, lingering piano. Satisfaction is Michael Rosas on vocals and guitar; Matthew Fletcher on keyboards; James Fletcher on drums; and Aaron Wahlman on bass.

They’ll be bringing their cool indie alternative rock to Long Beach tonight.

Satisfaction: The Prospector, 2400 East Seventh Street, Long Beach; $5; 9pm

Photo above: Taken with Satisfaction singer, guitarist Rosas outside the OCPAC Samueli Theater after Matt Costa's show on April 24. The photoshoot was random, but very fun!

A crazy night at the cool Matt Costa show

2008-04-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

I'm usually not into Matt Costa's type of music, that folk-tinged, raspy kind of stuff. But when you're a reporter in my position, open-mindedness comes very handy when you have a prominent OC performing arts center inviting you to his sold out show. So, there I was, Thursday night at the Orange County Performing Artscenter for the Matt Costa show.

I had been to this Costa Mesa venue about a month ago for the Cold War Kids concert, but the vibe in the air was different this time. The lobby surely wasn't buzzing and the lines at the bars weren't snaky either. The demographics, to put it simply, were different. Conversations I overheard in the bathroom consisted of cramming for lab hours in a high school AP class, to older women chit chatting about working with the lead singer from the opening band, Satisfaction, at a nearby skin care corporation in the finance department. Oh, the interesting landscape of random-land.

The vibe, anyway, was enhanced by juicy remix hits from some of my favorite bands—like the Cold War Kids, the Klaxons, Interpol and Peter, Bjorn & John—that played at the break time between the Satisfaction and Matt Costa sets. (I arrived after Satisfaction ended their set, about 20 minutes before Costa took the stage at around 10:05 p.m.) I found my way to the front row, finding a spot to the side of the stage, uncomfortably in front of the loud speakers. I could feel wind coming from those speakers—that’s how close I was.

But the crowds were thick with teens dressed to the nines in their best knee-high gladiator sandals and Newport Beach jewelry. Yes, the front row was lined up with precious young girls hoping to lock deep stares with the singer.

Finally, with my paper Moleskine notebook and pen in hand 10 minutes into Costa’s set, I attracted a few fans of my own. One man brushed his way to my right for a while, and then to my left, at last asking, “What are you writing?” I’m usually quite secretive about my note-taking, and so this kind of question made me so much more self-conscious than ever before. It made me realize something: Matt Costa, or even his band musicians, could possibly see me from the stage and identify me as “the critic.”

This inquisitive stranger didn’t quit, either. He repeated stared at my notebook every time I opened it for more notes and asked me the usual questions—like, Who do you write for? “Cal State Long Beach. Daily student paper,” I said loud enough over a stompy Costa ditty. “Do you know a writer named Sean—?” “Sean Boulger?” “Yeah, I just got through interviewing with him.” “Oh, the Union Weekly.”

Then I started thinking of all that rivalry talk I hear around campus—how the Union has something better. May be. But they weren’t around scooping up all the Behind the Scenes treatment I was just digging into.

For about the next two hours, the lead singer of Satisfaction (yeah, that's who that was), Michael Rosas, and I pretty much stayed on consistent wavelengths. He tamed some wild fan girls, for example, who jumped their way onto the stage, while I shot footage and snapped their glittery wickedness on our side of the stage where we all collected in front of those woofing speakers. Rosas made new friends, while I greeted some old ones (yep, Cassie, the girl from the Cold War Kids show was there this time, too). By now, people knew Michael was someone exclusive, either recognizing him from the previous set, or recognizing his authentic rock star behavior. As for me, I was handling myself with more mystery, but still looking quite “in” with my nice notepad and careful reporter eye.

It turned out that Rosas liked me more than I thought, being completely uninhibited as I snapped candid shots of him having flirty moments with his new admirers. After the show, we even got into the “free fun” photo booth outside where we took some pictures of us two together. There, surprisingly, I also ran into Jonny Bell from the Crystal Antlers and then we took photos in the booth, too.

I’ve got to admit, the music wasn’t the center of attention at this show. (OK, OK... It was actually pretty good and fun and different.) But on top of it all, I felt like I slipped into a new dimension I hadn’t experienced before, concluding that rock shows, or any show/concert/event, is not always about why you ever went, but about who’s there (yourself included) and how they’re going to make things happen.

Photos by Barbara Navarro.

Finding Tina Lai in a good 'somewhere'

2008-04-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

This week senior printmaking student Tina Lai is showing "In a Lot of Somewheres," a collection of etchings and lithographs she calls very personal. Emphasizing the personal aspect of this collection, which is at the Merlino gallery space in the south campus, Lai has also placed a few items she considers revealing of her philosophy and personality. These objects include a guitar and its case (which she keeps open for donations), a working typewriter, a vintage record player, a kid's toy dangling from a silkscreen, and then a tower with a few, buzzing blades of green grass.

I found Lai in her gallery space last night, reading a bulky copy of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." I asked her, Why Rand? and a whole lot more about her pieces. Her responses are below. And if you'd like to meet her today, or simply stop by to leave her a note, don't walk, run! The show ends at 5 p.m.

Lai's flyers read, "25¢ admission." And though Lai means serious business, she or more less goes on having a Joshua Bell moment as visitors come and go. The fee, Lai says, is more of a donation for the artist—the print (shown above) serves as a reminder, and the accompanying guitar case laying on the floor below it adds more to the request. Lai explains that this set-up came as an inspiration from "Atlas Shrugged." "In the book, people create things and others say 'We need those things, so we should get this for free.' But there's a process (to creating), whether you're a scientist, artist or musician. It requires a vision, then work and going through series of trial and error to have art, a symphony, a new technology. In our world people say art should be free. But why? People pay to go to concerts and theaters, why not art shows and art galleries?"

In this lithograph, a sort of variation of a pointillism drawing (and, moreover, a recreation of Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street, Rainy Day"), Lai delves even deeper into the general meaning behind her show. She says, "My pieces deal with people and their identity and their space, and how (when you freeze them) they fit into their surroundings. It's almost a mundane moment." Lai also points out the gay couple and their modern clothes, compared to Caillebotte's late 19th century apparel.

Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" gets remade here, too. Lai pointed out the two male ducks and abundance of gay partners. In front of this painting you'll find a tower with a few blades of grass buzzing around at random times. Lai says she added this (and a few other pieces) to her show so that there'd be more than just flat prints to adorn the room.

This is by far Lai's most abstract piece in "In a Lot of Somewheres." "These are all accidents. I had to figure out how the white could come together. It's similar to life, how I find randomness interesting." This piece is made of Lai's postcards made of silkscreen prints. Whereas the usual is to make perfect duplicates (in the silkscreen process), Lai used the imperfect outcomes to make this piece. "The postcards (their pattern) are all imperfect individually, but as a whole they work together. In life, horrible circumstances seem to occur when things don't go together, but I like to think of the different possibilities of all they ways things could happen... Or is happening, you're just not in that space right now."

The portrait here is one of a musician who works at a hospital as a technician. It's an etching with watercolor; the drawing on the record (which is right below this drawing in the gallery) is a silkscreen. Lai says she used a photograph for inspiration to this piece, and hopes this inspires many more viewers to wonder, especially, she notes, with all that space she left on the drawing.

Here, Lai expresses her relationship with her mom, the most personal piece in the show. Lai explains the dual-tone silkscreen: "You see a face and couch, but really, the space is between all these unspoken thoughts. It reflects my philosophy of growing up, how as a daughter, there's less to rely on your parents and grow up and realize they're just people. And still, there is a special bond... My mom gave birth to me, and that means that there will always be a strand of her in me."

"The 'LOST' sign is meant to be whimsical. It's the one piece that most reflects my personality; it's very random. I do things like this." What did she lose? "It's a poster I made with pen and posted them around the art department. For 10 years, I had a (one-of-a-kind) retractable knife. But I lost it, and I never have found it. It's something that's being in different spaces and being in different somewheres."

All artwork by art student Tina Lai!
All photos by Barbara Navarro.

A love note to Tina Lai

2008-04-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

4/23/08

Dear Ms. Lai,

Golden dreams and good wishes, like buzzing money in the pocket. 'Tis good, you know, art to relate this is what I like to see... Thank you for such fun...

Sincerely, Daniel Helman (geology dept.)

Tina Lai saves these notes in a special somewhere! Here she is, the artist herself, showing me all the notes admirers have left for her on her typewriter. (And then I get distracted by the that sign that says "LOST." Hmmm... Tina explains that to me, too. My notes coming soon! For now, play the video!)

One night, tangled deep with We Barbarians

2008-04-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the sick image I developed of We Barbarians after first hearing their music, this tight-knit indie rock band—simply identified as "Quon, Van Heule and Warkentin" on their MySpace page—came out for a benefit show at Costa Mesa's Detroit Bar last night. That totally softened my views. What this Long Beach, grunge-sounding band was really like: The lead singer is a sliver of a man who belts out huge, fevered screams that ask for gentle attention; the bass player, partial to the right side of the stage, maintained a heavier demeanor, slipping deep into smouldering grooves most of the time; and the drummer, who sported some sexy scruffy facial hair last night, you'll find most likely camouflage behind a cluster of a silvery drum set, banging away like a secret agent. No, these weren't black-stained pouty hipsters from the LBC, even if their songs all seem to be cut from the same bruised fabric. Instead, their following surely seem like the in-the-scene kind, and definitely not moody. Did I mention that We Barbarians' fans also include Long Beach poet Derrick Brown and the Cold War Kids? They were also in the audience (or on stage!).

Photos by Barbara Navarro.

We Barbarians will next play at Spaceland
on Monday, May 12.

A psychedelic night: Crystal Antlers, Thursday

2008-04-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

LOVE
WHO: CRYSTAL ANTLERS
WHAT: KBeach Concert Series (second in three-band line-up)
WHEN: Thursday night, on stage from about 8p.m. to 9p.m.

WHERE: Nugget Pub & Grill, somewhere on CSULB

WHY: Oh, they're one of a handful of Long Beach bands next in line to be huge

Here's a snapshot of my notes...

High energy
Their sound: can be mellow, droopy, intensely psychedelic, even, and then utterly sparkly at the same glittery moment, especially with the boys' charming on-stage chemistry
Saw some crazy instruments handled by Sexual Chocolate, the band's percussion man, including a minature baby blue piano he held in his hands and blew into like a whistle
The keyboards were beautiful, fusing and bridging each song with the next
"A Thousand Eyes" is a hit; it's so popular, everyone went ooh and ahh over it
The crowd was at a colorful, voluminous capicity (obviously, they were there for Crystal Antlers... 95% of the crowd left right after the last song)
For the last two songs, two worshipping audience members stood up to sing along literally face-to-face with the band's singer/bass player Jonny Bell
The boys ended their set, and everyone was happy
Crystal Antlers hung out to sell their cool six-track, self-titled EP "Crystal Antlers;" some fans asked for their autographs, others for their pictures
I spoke to Jonny Bell afterwards, too. I was amazed at how sincere and collected he was after all that sweaty, high-energy rocking

Cyrstal Antlers will next play at the Prospector in Long Beach for the Fidotrust Fest on Saturday night.

Photo by Barbara Navarro.

Other music events going on around town tonight...
{open} bookstore, with bands of the experimental genre for Third Saturday on Retro Row
Fingerprint Records, with Silversun Pickups
Grand Prix, with Pennywise
Detroit Bar, with We Barbarians

Zephyr Cafe reintroduces cupcakes to menu

2008-04-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

This Long Beach cafe gets more exciting with every new visit that I make. Zephyr first surprised me with their art collection of Skullphone banners strewn across their walls when I first discovered them about a month ago. Then, their food... Zephyr's vegetarian, vegan and raw dishes mak me want to switch over to a whole new way of life! (I always look forward to returning to this place. It's a constant!) And now, they've topped my list of restaurant places in Long Beach with their addition of cupcakes to their Tuesdays and Fridays menu.

Zephyr's Cupcake of the Moment: "Cookies and Cream"

Zephyr features a variety of cupcakes on their Tuesdays and Thursdays menu. Here's a list of just some of their different, tasty offerings:

Chocolate with peanut butter frosting
Pumpkin chocolate chip topped with a hard chocolate shell
Chocolate, chocolate chip with chocolate mousse frosting and coconut
Chai latte with cinnamon spice frosting
Vanilla filled with cinnamon banana custard and topped with chocolate mousse

Call ahead to double check...
562-435-7113

Or, simply stop by!
340 E 4th St. (at Long Beach Blvd.), Long Beach

Hours
Tuesday through Saturday: 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Photo by Barbara Navarro. Yum! ;) Clearer pictures for the next time!

Long Beach Antlers: it's like bringing Christmas early for Cal State Long Beach indie rock fans!

2008-04-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm fixated on their name. Even more fixated on their sound—psychedelic and smooth.

And it's only been about a week since I found out about them.

Who are they? None other than Crystal Antlers—a Long Beach band you SHOULD know about.

The band is rather underground still, but, as DJ Oldboy put it, "They are probably our biggest band to come out this whole year."

Why did DJ Oldboy (or Chris Lynch) fall in love with Crystal Antlers? Apparently, Oldboy went on to the band's MySpace music page, heard their cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" which had that Chocolate Watchband sound, he recalls, and then: Love.

It's all over now for me, too. I want Crystal Antlers. Rapido!

Here is an exciting Q&A with Crystal Antler's singer/bass player Jonny Bell, where I got to delve into the dynamics of this Long Beach band, their sly playnames, and what "grawge" means.

What's going on at the Nugget? Why is it THE place (of all Long Beach venues) for your show Thursday night?
Well, we've never actually been to the Nugget before, so we don't really know what to expect. It is THE place we were asked to play on Thursday and we're pretty excited about it.

Do any of you go to school? Or, maybe you already graduated from college?
Damian (a.k.a Sexual Chocolate; percussions) and I graduated from UCLA; Victor (organs) went to Otis; and Andrew and Kevin (guitar and drums, respectively) work blue colar jobs.

I hear your music. I like it. Though, I've read such descriptive words like "grawge" used to label your music, and I'm not sure how to make the connection. Can you explain what "gwarge" means?
Thanks for the kind words... When I think of "garage" I think of the Sonics or Love, that kind of stuff. We're not really trying to be 60's revivalists. We just like the old gear.

Where did you get started?
I think our official start was when we recorded our first single which was in San Francisco.

Where do you usually play (shows, parties, etc.)?
Nowadays we play anywhere that seems like a good time where we can reach a log of people and get drunk for free. I guess it's a good thing we finally get to reach the CSULB crowd. We'll have to get LA Record some distro out there. (Barbara's note: You can find LA Record at {open} bookstore on Fourth Street.)

Do all of you live in Long Beach?
Most of us live in Long Beach...

Where do you hang out?
We hang out at the local gay bars sometimes. Everyone seems to have more fun than at the other dives in town and there's not much pretention. Also, lately we've been having BBQ's in Bixby Park and playing kickball.

Do you have playnames? Like, "Sexual Chocolate"?
Haha... Damian Edwards a.k.a. "Sexual Chocolate." Damian doesn't identify himself—he just IS.

How do you feel about the Long Beach music scene? Where do you fit in with it all?
I like the LB music scene. There's all sorts of interesting stuff going on in different styles and none of the bands sound like each other. I think we fit right in there.

Are you friends with famous LB musicians, like the Cold War Kids (or anybody else who isn't as "mainstream")?
Haha... We don't know the Cold War Kids. Are they from Long Beach? We're friends with Free Moral Agents and Magic Lantern as well as many others.

Watch out for the boys performing tonight at the Nugget Pub & Grill at 7 p.m. The show's free and features two other bands. But, um, Crystal Antlers, just as Oldboy said, will "make eyes and ears bleed." I'm intrigued. See you there!

To hear Crystal Antlers' music (and to view their videos, tour dates and catch a glimpse of Mr. Sexual Chocolate himself), please visit their MySpace page by clicking here.

Photo by Grant Peterson. Artwork by Crystal Antlers.

Out with the old, in with the new?

2008-04-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

I discovered Acres of Books for the first time in mid-January, and I truly fell into a narrative wonderland, an escape within a giant maze of towering reads. …Ooooh. But after a few weeks (er, days… I work for a daily, remember?) of research and hanging around the place, I learned of the store’s dimming truth: it could be knocked down. The stinky trend was finally catching up to Acres at their lot on Fourth Street and Long Beach Boulevard—a trend involving beautification of the immediate and surrounding blemished street blocks by Acres, which included a possible buyout from the city.

At Friday's weekly poetry night (or how the owner Jackie Smith calls it, “a psychobabble fest”) the store finally made the announcement: the city would be moving them out, that they had "negotiated the sale of our property... to the Redevelopment Agency," meaning Acres of Books would be knocked down.

Sad, stinky news. And, I don't get the city's fixation with demolishing history for lofts that nobody's buying. What will be left for Long Beach's future bibliophilic communities? This dusty downtown dinosaur is the place.

The truth is, there is another bookstore in town that I've also developed a crush on—{Open}, an independent store on Fourth Street (in the "Retro Row" neighborhood). It's a special little place that thoroughly stocks books by local literary stars, or simply draws large crowds when they invite them in for readings. Their art shows make a good draw, too. (Art di Matt Maust, anyone?)

So much to choose from... The wonderfully old, and charming new!

See these places for yourself...
Acres of Books, 240 Long Beach Boulevard, Long Beach. (562) 437-6980
{Open} Bookstore, 2226 East Fourth Street, Long Beach. (562) 499-OPEN

Pictured above: (Left) Acres of Books' towering shelves; (right) Echo Park photographer Marleah Tobin at the current art show happening at {open}, taken on opening night (3-29-08).

Pictured below: Snapshots of the shelves at {open}. Photos by Barbara Navarro.

Ode to the District Weekly

2008-04-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

I thank them for not having porno ads dominating the back section of their issues, ever, which I know is the standard for most alternative publications. I admire them for being so animated in their storytelling and so committed to giving this city (and often times, the surrounding cities) some color. Like Technicolor color. And, after one full year in business now, it’s safe to say, also, that they’re not some elitist group in town who just write to show off. They have something real to say and they do it so exquisitely with so little—they’re out once a week and, on average, probably have 15 full pages of stories and reports. I like them for many reasons. Congratulations, District Weekly! You’re one year old, and yeah, you’re growing up quite fast. But that’s OK. It’s as if you were born with a hundred brains at a hundred years old. That’s what’s so sexy about you!

Images courtesty of Kristina Coffeen at the District.

A Bright Future: Art Department's Annual Exhibit

2008-04-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

From wire to plastic trash bags, or wood, plaster, pencil and paint, art students from various media classes create a vast collection of colorful, fresh art for the Department of Art Annual Foundation Exhibition. Occupying the Gatov, Merlino, Werby and Dutzi Galleries located adjacent to the Fine Art Buildings, these one of a kind student art creations will be on display through April 10. ALL PHOTOS & VIDEO BY BARBARA NAVARRO

Just Rad: CWK Fan, CSULB Student at OC Show Adding to Her Juicy Concert-Going Résumé

2008-04-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Cassie Ann Comley! This girl got way down at the recent Cold War Kids show at the Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa. She wasn't holding back any singing or stomping, and bassist Matt Maust was taking note from his place on stage! I approached Cassie inside the theater where we both were—in the front row!—and after the show, I snapped a few pictures of her. I was so impressed, and then even more excited, to learn that Cassie is a business student at Cal State Long Beach.

Here's something to wow you on Comley's concert-going past: She got eight stitches below her left eye after a Senses Fail concert at the Glasshouse four years ago. She says this was a time "when I went through a hardcore, vegan phase." Later on, in her days of crowd-surfing numerous Thursday shows, she once lost her shoe. Other things she likes to do: go to Coachella just to sweat her tush off by dancing to LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, for example. "I've seen Bright Eyes in San Diego, and I had pit seats to see The Shins at the Grove," she goes on to brag. "My cousin works for KROQ, so I get around." Oh, just flaunt it aloud some more, Comley. You know you rock!

This is what happens when you love good music, she says, and see the point in going to live shows: It's the perfect way to shake the stress.

But we both also knew another thing long before the show ended: Seeing the Cold War Kids was the perfect way to start our spring break recess!

You can find my review and see more pictures of the Cold War Kids in concert at Orange County's Performing Artscenter at the Daily Forty-Niner website.

Photos by Barbara Navarro