Apr 23, 2013 Three Days until Long Beach: Work in Progress
After months of blogging in anticipation of Long Beach: Work in Progress, the week of the conference is finally here. This afternoon the crew visited the Edison Theatre, where the event will take place. The historic venue has been shuttered for years but has been cleared out and prepared for some washing down and selective painting. It ain’t the ArcLight and it’s going to be slightly rough, but that’s the spirit of the conference. It’s raw, it’s authentic, it’s a work in progress.
Speaking of works in progress, a program/zine I’ve been putting together is at a Long Beach print shop. They should ready to pick up on Wednesday. While on one hand the process made me nostalgic for my roots in the zine-making heyday of the early to mid ’90s (the first two issue of Giant Robot mag but also the half issues of Robot Power), I definitely appreciate not having to recruit friends to collate and staple around a dining room table this time around. That’s the cover (below, left).
Other elements are coming together, too. Last week I had lunch with my friends O.G. Long Beach skater Justin Reynolds, pro Chad Tim Tim, and shoe designer Paul Kwon (below, right) to touch base on the Skateboarding Panel. They’ve got much to say about skateboarding’s rich history in Long Beach as well as its role in the city’s culture in general. Meanwhile, the fourth and final Skateboarding Panel member, their colleague and highly respected skate video cinematographer Ricki The Dude Bedenbaugh, returned safely from China.
And even as I type this, I’m downloading slideshow images from their buddy and longtime archivist and proponent of Long Beach skating Mark Nisbet of 508 Productions. Mark is a busy guy with a lot of commercial and artistic projects going on, and we definitely appreciate having his insider’s view at Long Beach skateboarding culture.
Another final piece that I anxiously await is the Architecture Panel slideshow from Cara Mullio and Jennifer M. Volland. Cara and Jennifer are lively, funny, and very smart authors who will put on an amazing presentation. I was informed by their publisher Hennessey+Ingalls that their new book about Case Study House architect Edward Killingsworth will have arrived freshly from the printer in China just in time for Friday.
Last-minute emails from the much-loved food writer Jonathan Gold, T.S.O.L.’s infamous singer Jack Grisham, and keynote speaker/W+K Garage honcho John Jay are also getting me hyped.
If you haven’t committed to attending Long Beach: Work in Progress, it isn’t too late. Check out the site and ticketing info HERE and we’ll see you Friday.
