Dec 09, 2014 Some Minor Good Things from 2014
Point Lobos, California (July 1, 2014)
2014 is about to end and not a moment too soon. We’ll probably look back at it as an uneasy year riddled with tension between races and distrust of The Man from all sides. But there’s some brightness to be found if you make an effort. And even minor good things can be inspiring, enlightening, and perhaps even affect positive change.
Ian Lambot and Greg Girard, City of Darkness, Swindon, UK: Watermark, 2014
1. Big-ass photo books. I don’t buy a lot of stuff and would never encourage anyone to hoard anything, but My Rules by Glen E. Friedman, The Sounds of Two Eyes Opening by Spot, and City of Darkness Revisited by Ian Lambot and Greg Girard provide a lot of value for those of us who can’t afford prints by our favorite photographers. And these particular ones have extra meaning for me since I acquired the first two at book signings and the last through its Kickstarter campaign. How cool is it to not only support artists whose work you admire and the subject matters that they inspire you with, but also be able to personally connect with them in a small way as well?
Bob Burden at Comic-Con, Boris at The Casbah (July 24, 2014)
2. Boris playing The Casbah in San Diego while Comic-Con was going on. Two awesome worlds collided, and this was actually the second time it’s happened. Besides being a ripping live band, Boris will always remind me of my stint selling T-shirts for Damon & Naomi when they toured with the Japanese psychedelic doom band. Meanwhile, Comic-Con is something my brother and I have been attending since we were little kids who read and traded comics in 1979. Jack Kirby splash pages and noisy drone aren’t obvious partners but they have served as senses-shattering mind-blowers in different stages of life for us. Did I mention that Greg lives down there and we go together every time? (Universes collided in a badass way for us once more when we spotted two of the Melvins at a postseason Dodger game but that’s another story.)
3. Road Trips. I haven’t crossed a time zone or even stepped into an airplane since last year and that’s fine. My wife Wendy, daughter Eloise, and I have gone on more than a few drives to San Francisco, San Diego, and Monterey, Big Sur, and the Central Coast. Yes, we took the world’s biggest Charlie Brown fan on a pilgrimage to the Schulz Museum, spent time with all sorts of friends and family, ate some great food up and down the Golden State, and appreciate California’s offerings more than ever. But who could have known all that time on the road would lead Eloise to want to make her own mixtape? (Yes, on cassette and, no, she wasn’t revolting against the ones I made.)
Imprint Presents Koichi Suzuno (Torafu Architects, Architecture for Dogs) at the Downtown Independent (May 5, 2014)
4. Work. Being trusted to write pretty much whatever I want is already as good as it gets. And then I get to attend fascinating Imprint talks and help out cool projects like Architecture for Dogs on top of that?
CicLAvia: Heart of the City (October 5, 2014)
5. Bikes. Because Eloise learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels this summer, Wendy and I had to get bikes for the first time since either of us were kids. And it’s been somewhat life altering. We travel the bike path that goes along the L.A. River almost weekly and have been hitting every CicLAvia that we can. Last weekend’s ride took place in South Central, and was a perfect time and place for families from all over the city to gather, mix, and have fun considering the current state of racial relations in our country. And as a proud Los Angeleno, it was also cool spotting the old locations of legendary jazz clubs on Central, eating rad Jamaican food at Leimert Park, and checking out everything and everyone in between.
Chuck Dukowski Sextet at Save Music in Chinatown 3 (May 18, 2014)
6. Save Music in Chinatown. The DIY benefit matinees that my wife and I started last school year was one of my favorite things about last year, too. But now I love them even more. Bringing cool shows back to the neighborhood where my immigrant grandparents hung out, bridging cultures, getting different types of people together, and raising money for music education at our daughter’s public elementary school has always been awesome, but now I feel like a real community is forming that includes the bands, the DJs, the crew at Human Resources gallery, contributors to the raffle and bake sale, and regulars who go to every show. The amount of money that we can raise will never pay all of the music program’s enormous annual bill, but everyone is having a blast. We’re also showing little kids that music is played by regular people–not just superstars in arenas or on TV–and that regular people can make a difference in the community, as well. Check out our next show on January 11!
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