Author: Martin Wong

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Jul 12, 2016

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When my brother-in-law got a five-and-a-half-week engineering gig in Nashville and my sister and her kids began planning a trip to Tennessee, we figured we'd crash their vacation. Would we ever go there for another occasion?  We flew into Memphis and our first meal was at the Arcade Restaurant, which fed MLK and was seen...

Editorial

Jul 05, 2016

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There seems to be a flurry of murals and public art going up around Southern California, which I think is great. But it's also worthwhile to revisit older pieces,  and last week I finally visited Siqueiros' América Tropical, which can be viewed for free from a deck high above the Olvera Street shopping and dining...

Editorial

Jun 21, 2016

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Going on trips and trying to figuring out an itinerary is a blast. You scribble down interesting places to visit, stuff to eat, and people to see according to geography and then balance them out like a word problem. But what happens when an old friend comes to town and stays with you? My college...

Imprint Picks

Jun 17, 2016

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Kate Simon is best known for shooting the image of Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of The Clash's London Calling. What an incredible image on an essential double album. But her 2004 collection from Genesis Publications, which was limited to 2,000 signed copies and came packaged in a wooden box, is remarkable...

Editorial

Jun 14, 2016

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Last weekend, Wendy and I celebrated our tenth anniversary of being married by going to Mammoth. At this time of the season, there is only a sliver of the mountain open to skiing and snowboarding and we knew the trail conditions wouldn't be great.  But for years while we were dating we had season passes...

8 Questions

Jun 13, 2016

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Because inspiration comes and goes, we brought back some of our 8 Questions friends to revisit their sources. Theresa Dankovich, The Drinkable Book™ Where do you personally find inspiration? I find inspiration through other people’s stories. I regularly read inspirational books by people who have been successful in the international development field. I love The Moth and other...

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Jun 07, 2016

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This is the time of year when my friend Erik Caruso and I gush about each other's work. He tells me how much he digs Save Music in Chinatown, our efforts to raise money for music education at my daughter's school, Castelar Elementary, by channeling the historic neighborhood's punk rock past. I say that what...

Imprint Picks

Jun 03, 2016

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Raymond Pettibon is a Renaissance man whose art has charged zines, flyers, album covers, canvases, and wall paintings since the late '70s. This gorgeous and nearly 700-pages-thick tome covers all aspects of the math teacher/punk rocker/fine artist's powerful words and raw images that are informed by Southern California subculture in the tradition of  Bukowski, Chandler,...

Editorial

May 31, 2016

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I don't even remember how I met Naomi Hirahara. Was it through The Rafu Shimpo? Giant Robot mag? Friends of friends? Somehow, we became pals and she became an acclaimed novelist and writer with at least a dozen titles to her name. Her latest Mas Arai detective novel is titled Sayonara Slam, and features two...