Editorial

May 20, 2014 Save Music in Chinatown 3 recap with Chuck Dukowski Sextet and California

by Martin Wong

Sunday's Save Music in Chinatown benefit faced the hottest weather (coming off the 100s during the week) and the most competition (Zero Boys matinee at the Redwood, BBQ with The Last in San Pedro). But it was possibly the deepest in terms of punk pedigree with links to heavyweights like Black Flag, Jawbreaker, and Green...

Editorial

May 13, 2014 Save Music in Chinatown 3: Chuck Dukowski Sextet, California, Bitter Party, The Bear and Little Nun

by Martin Wong

On Sunday, my wife and I will be putting on our third Save Music in Chinatown benefit. You'd think we'd be experts at this by now. Or that we had some experience with concerts before attempting to raise money for music education at our daughter's elementary school. Sadly, neither is true. But we don't pretend...

Editorial

May 06, 2014 Report from LAAPFF 2014: Star Trek, yakuza, masked rangers, and art

by Martin Wong

Well, that was fast. After months of screenings, meetings, and preparation, my part at the 30th annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is over just like that. It was only five nights ago that the L.A. premiere of To Be Takei served as the gala opening. And how cool was that to see George and...

Editorial

Apr 29, 2014 Stay Wild with Scrappers Morrison

by Martin Wong

Last Thursday, I drove over to Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood to attend the release party for my friend Justin "Scrappers" Morrison's new magazine. It's pretty bold for anyone to start a print publication these days, but that's how Scrappers approaches his life, art, and work. He just goes for it. And Scrappers has had...

Editorial

Apr 15, 2014 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2014 Preview

by Martin Wong

Last week, I attended the final meeting of the Programming Committee for this year's Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Next month's screenings will be the thirtieth annual showcase of movies, shorts, and other cinematic endeavors presented by the Little Tokyo-based collective of activists and entertainment insiders. I belong to neither camp but am flattered...

Editorial

Apr 09, 2014 Old old

by Jerry Hsiao

I recently purchased a bottle of perfume for my wife, she mentioned she really liked the certain scent. So I went out and got it for her, and I did some googling and realized I had just stumbled on to a company that’s been around since before 1612. Santa Maria Novella originating in Florence has...

Editorial

Apr 08, 2014 Greg Girard on Revisiting Kowloon Walled City

by Martin Wong

Sometime around 2000, I met Greg Girard the old-fashioned way: I sent a letter to the publisher of City of Darkness, a brick of a photo book about Kowloon Walled City that Greg made with his friend Ian Lambot. Through a series of letters, faxes, and phone calls, I eventually interviewed the then-Shanghai resident about...

Editorial

Apr 01, 2014 Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game at JANM; plus Perseverance and Mike Kelley

by Martin Wong

It's probably because Clement Hanami, Art Director of the Japanese American National Museum, knows I'm a huge Dodger fan that he invited me to check out the brand-new exhibit at his Downtown L.A. place of employment. After getting me in, he told me that to him Dodgers: Brotherhood of the Game is about how baseball...

Editorial

Mar 25, 2014 Tales of Print: 20th Anniversary of Giant Robot Magazine Talk at GR2

by Martin Wong

On Sunday, Eric Nakamura and I gave a 20th anniversary presentation about Giant Robot magazine at GR2. As co-founders of the publication, we gave plenty of talks about it at colleges, companies, museums, and juvenile halls from 1994-2010. They were always fun, equal parts (1) behind-the-scenes stories about starting a stapled-and-folded zine about Asian, underground,...

Editorial

Mar 18, 2014 Carsick Cars at Los Globos, all the way from Beijing

by Martin Wong

Carsick Cars is currently touring the North America and I was stoked to catch them at Los Globos in Silver Lake last week. I've been a big fan of the Beijing band since interviewing them for Giant Robot about four years ago. While their music still channels the New York underground feel of the Velvet...