Author: Martin Wong

Editorial

Apr 28, 2015

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On Sunday, I attended KXLU Fest II. Getting to see one of my favorite bands, The Muffs, for free on the campus of Loyola Marymount University was pretty rad. Even better, it was all-ages show so I could take my 7-year-old daughter and go with my sister and her family! Immediately we saw my old...

Editorial

Apr 21, 2015

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Who could have expected Record Store Day to be so divisive among record collectors? The idea of encouraging people to buy vinyl and support indie record shops seems like it would be universally loved among hardcore music fans. If you like shiny new records, good for you. Make some friends in line and hopefully share...

Editorial

Apr 07, 2015

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Sawtelle is a lot different from when I used to hang out there regularly, circa 2001-2010 when Eric Nakamura and I made Giant Robot mag just a few blocks away in his garage. There were more JA nurseries, shops, and places that sold kimonos and wooden slippers, and fewer fusion restaurants and trendy eateries. But...

Editorial

Mar 31, 2015

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The other week I went to Angel City Brewery in Little Tokyo to check out some photos by Greg Jacobs. Back in the '90s I was a huge fan of a band he used to manage, Big Drill Car, and somewhat recently found out that his real gig is as a set photographer but he...

Editorial

Mar 30, 2015

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I collected the art of Chris Shary for more than two decades before I knew who he was. In the early '90s, his illustrations began appearing on T-shirts and records by ALL, Chemical People, and Big Drill Car when I was seeing any combination of the three bands and gobbling up all of their merch...

Editorial

Mar 24, 2015

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I was bummed to miss Keep Company's Friday night re-opening gathering. My friend Una Kim's shoe company headquarters and flagship store had been shuttered for about a month while the team consolidated, plotted, and recharged and finally opened its doors to the public on the vernal (spring) equinox. Sadly, the stars didn't align for our...

Editorial

Mar 17, 2015

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Every now and then in Los Angeles, streets are closed off so cyclists can ride through the city without fear of motorized vehicles. And it's pretty awesome to roll up and down a major thoroughfare like Sunset Boulevard, which is very familiar to me yet totally different on bikes with my family. It's both exhilarating...

Editorial

Mar 10, 2015

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As a parent, I talk to a lot of friends, relatives, and peers about how they take their kids to this lesson or that activity every day after school or on weekends. Sports, scouts, music lessons, art classes, or whatever--when looking back at my childhood, I realize that didn't do any of that stuff! From fourth...

Editorial

Mar 03, 2015

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When a friend recently asked me what I've been reading, my response was "just some trash." And I meant it. Lately I've been catching up with the works of John Waters. One of the Baltimore-based writer's books is actually called Trash Trio and others have subtitles referring to obsessions and bad taste. Of course, Waters is...