"War Machine" photo credit: Michael Tullberg

After seven years in development, non-profit organization Overtone Industries is set to launch their site-specific theatricale, Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, with three weekends of performances opening Thursday, July 8, 2010.  Billed as a contemporary opera, the large-scale, genre-bending production integrates an astounding array of innovative art installation, dance, voice, live and recorded music, projected video, costuming, community participation, and theater. Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands was developed and cultivated by Director O-Lan Jones in an extensive guided collaboration that involves twenty one librettists, eleven composers, Costume and Scenic Designer Snezana Petrovic, Musical Director David O, Instrument Inventor Bart Hopkin, Choreographer Nina Winthrop, twenty performers, a nine-piece live orchestra, dozens of crew members, scores of community volunteers, and many others.

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"Untitled" Roscoe Wilson

Following a successful launch in Beijing, the A&I Gallery in Hollywood will host the North American premiere of Common Ground 2010, an exhibition of fine art digital prints from across the globe, all with an environmental theme. The exhibition of new media work, at the intersection of art, technology, and eco-activism, opens on July 8, 2010 and runs through August 13, 2010. Over 1,000 artists from 40 countries submitted their digital art for consideration. The resulting curated collection contains work from 85 artists. A portion of all proceeds generated from the touring exhibition will benefit non-profit organizations including the World Wildlife Fund, Global Giving, and The Global Environmental Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

Overtone Industries is engaged in a massive community arts project, currently underway, to create props and costumes from recycled materials for their July site-specific contemporary opera, Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands directed by O-Lan Jones. In May and June, creative volunteers are invited to Overtone’s “Songs & Dances Craftacular Weekend Workshops,” a series of free public art workshops where donated recyclables are being transformed into sets and costumes for the innovative music theater production. Overtone Industries is looking for crafters, artists, knitters, and the general public of all ages to collaborate on the project by participating in the art-making process via the community workshops. Workshops are being held Saturdays and Sundays, 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., through June 20, 2010 at the Songs & Dances Warehouse, 8840 Washington Street, Culver City, CA 90232.

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image from "North Horizon" by Thomas Freundlich and Valterri Raekallio

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces the programming for its ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010.  Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography.  The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media.  “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Jesse Freidin

Inspired by Polaroid’s newest spokesperson, Lady Gaga, award-winning Bay Area dog photographer Jesse Freidin – with the help of The Impossible Project (TIP) – created The Doggie Gaga Project, which has become a viral sensation.  Freidin dressed his canine models in five of Lady Gaga’s most celebrated outfits, and photographed them using two packs of Polaroid film from the last remaining supply in the world.  Read the rest of this entry »

Award winning filmmaker Jon Reiss is set to release his new book Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era on March 15, 2010. The book is a primer for filmmaking in the digital era covering distribution of all types of media content – feature films, shorts, webisodes, transmedia, vblogs, etc., and is the first to address the new distribution and marketing landscape facing filmmakers today.
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Photo Credit: Helena Ruffin

Legendary interdisciplinary artist Rachel Rosenthal is set to introduce the world to her new improvisational theater group, TOHUBOHU! Extreme Theater Ensemble, with monthly performances starting the weekend of February 19, 2010. The name, loosely translated, means “collision or chaos” which Rosenthal describes as not what the Company does, but the process they go through to do what they do. Each monthly performance will span three nights during one weekend. All performance begin at 8:30pm. Tickets cost $20. Reservations are necessary to insure seats… Read the rest of this entry »

"Eyes Nose Mouth" - photo credit: Noemie Lafrance

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or screendance, is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes screendance as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… Read the rest of this entry »

Buddha Bark is the premiere wellness, pampering and gifting lounge for celebrities and their dogs to primp and prepare pre-awards shows, debuting in January 2010 during the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards. Created by canine wellness expert, Madison Svensson, her Buddha Bark event series is the first to bring together top experts and brands from both the celebrity lifestyle world and the canine wellness community. Showcasing cutting-edge organic treatments, services and products for people and their pets, Buddha Bark will take place on Friday, January 15th and Saturday, January 16, 2009 from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Find refuge in an exclusive Zen-inspired garden oasis located in the heart of the awards show action zone complete with bungalows, a dog park, salon, art gallery, fashion runway, performance art, walking gardens and more. Read the rest of this entry »

The Huron SubStation, a historic 1906 Los Angeles trolley power station, recently launched its first line of candles under the helm of Manifest Destiny. The line, unique in concept, aromatics and visuals, creates its own genre within the candle market. Created by SubStation owner, Meike Kopp, the line debuts with a series of luxurious candles, each memorializing a time in history with an antique image and a vintage scent. The line utilizes such striking images as lost photos found in the attic to civil war daguerreotypes, pairing them with hauntingly evocative scents such as cognac, burning birch, and pouch tobacco. Adding yet another dimension to the line, the antique images on each of the candles inspires the creation of a character that is immersed in a mysterious fable. Written by Kopp, a teaser of the fable accompanies each candle and the fable in its entirety can be found on Manifest Destiny’s site www.manifestdestinyline.com.

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