Create:Fixate Presents
Stop-Pause-Now
At Premiere Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, July 16, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) is once again up to some good with their next exhibit Stop-Pause-Now on Saturday, July 16, 2011 at the Premiere Events Center. C:F’s signature blend features vibrant artwork and music produced by over forty local artists, DJs, land musicians. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a gallery preview.  The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 2:00am.  Admission is $15.00 before 9:00pm and $20.00 for the remainder of the night. Premiere Events Center is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists’ works, please visit www.createfixate.com. C:F can be reached by phone at 310-590-7199 for other inquiries.

The evening begins with a preview of the exhibit from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. There is a $5 suggested donation during this period but kids twelve-years old and younger are allowed free entry.  Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone.  Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the evening’s exhibit. While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be 21-years old or older to enter after 7:00pm.

Create:Fixate Founder and Artistic Director Michelle Berc explains the event’s theme, “Sometimes, you’ve got to take a moment, with all that’s whizzing by.  The noise level rises and it becomes an ever-increasing challenge to just be, much less Be Present. So take a moment. Let go of that angst about the past and your worries about the future. Give your undivided attention to what’s going on right in front of you. Pause. Center. Focus.  And when you’re ready, Take Action. Find your way to Now and make it happen!”

All participating artists along with high school students from Sun Valley High School will be creating one piece of artwork that expresses the show’s theme.

Stop-Pause-Now will feature the creativity of over thirty visual artists in the “Optical Lounge” – the evening’s visual feast – presenting a stunning array of painting, photography, multi-media, interactive installation, and performance art. Highlights include:

• Kenneth Ober’s current paintings are meditations exploring and defining time and space through complex fields created by using the excessive repetition of simple, small lines.  The paintings are made primarily with a tool designed for pin-striping automobiles, which is used to apply relentlessly consistent lines of paint to subtly textured canvas.

• At first distance Michelle Matthews‘ works are typically read as photographs. It is only when the viewer steps closer to the piece that they become disoriented by the materiality of the thread. Anonymous spaces become materialized in tens of thousands of stitches, and the thread supplants the photographic pixel.

• In her assemblages, Jena Priebe uses a myriad of media such as mirrors, glass, antiquated found objects, metals, adhesives and the guts of machines.

• Mark Dugally’s love of motorcycles and passion for the extraordinary come together in the rolling creations that are functional pieces of art. His designs are exotic materiality mixed with an aesthetic that questions what we know as “motorcycle.”

• Ken Murphy is a musician, programmer, artist, and tinkerer living in San Francisco, who is interested in the intersection of art and technology.  His latest creation “A History of the Sky” is a time-lapse visualization of the sky, clouds, weather and light.

• Chase, named one of Italian Vogue’s favorite 2006 street artists in the world (alongside Shepard Fairey and Banksy), is an artist/designer and Belgium transplant now based in Los Angeles.  He spends most of his time painting free murals containing uplifting messages in cities around the world. Chase will be doing a live painting installation during the event, which will be auctioned off to raise money for Create:Fixate’s community outreach programs for at-risk youth.

• In 2006, Kat Dawes traveled to Africa seeking to intimately understand the Laws of the Universe, hitchhiking from South to Central Africa and back again for a year with minimal possessions and financial resources.  Her vision inspired her to create a unifying word – NOWism™– that celebrates the practice of wisdom expressed throughout all cultures and ages.  In addition to live painting, Dawes will be giving a short talk about her campaign for the NOW.

The “Audio Lab” – otherwise known as the music portion of the evening – completes Create:Fixate’s vision.  Highlights include:

• Love in the Circus features unique and seductive melodies that combine and blur the lines of electronica, rock, jazz and blues with sultry, edgy, museful hooks. The group has recently played at festivals in Bali, Europe and recently toured Australia and Indonesia over New Years. C:F will be offering a free download of their latest album!

• As a continuation of an alliance with KCRW, C:F welcomes the one and only Jason Bentley who serves as the Music Director of the station and host of their signature program “Morning Becomes Eclectic.”  Bentley, who maintains a distinguished career as a Music Supervisor for film and advertising, is a tireless champion of new music and culture with an influence close to home and around the globe.

• Idiot Savant is the DJ collaboration between Jesse Wright and Ron Levy, the founders of Pocket Underground.  Since 2004, they have been a staple in California house and techno communities.

• DJ Wiseacre, the co-creator of three very successful LA parties, including Lift, will continue his quest to bridge genres of music and people by spinning fine tunes from all over the world, ranging from Brooklyn to the Balkans, from South America to Sweden, from house, to disco, to Afro-Latin broken beat and dub.

As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts the organization continues to empower youth through arts education projects. For the second time, C:F and Sun Valley High School will join forces. The exhibit will feature a collection of work from the students of Andrea Graham, who weave the concepts of emotional and spiritual health with art.  Using the show’s theme, Graham teaches her students to become aware of their preoccupations, so that they can move beyond and learn the benefits of living in the present.

Create:Fixate is an arts organization based in Los Angeles.  It is completing its 9th year of producing art/music events that bring together emerging artists and musicians, along with thousands of art lovers and party goers in massive – and at times intimate – warehouse locations and alternative spaces on a quarterly basis.  Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina, and a core team of volunteers and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of Los Angeles’ finest DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms this from a simple ‘art show’ into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.

~The Optical Lounge~

Adam Diaz
Adam Diaz was born and raised in Los Angeles. He attended college at California State University Northridge, obtaining a degree in English literature, with extensive course study in traditional art techniques. He is currently working as an animator for cable television programs, having channeled his traditional visual skills into the world of 3D graphics and animation. The focus in his mature art is both visual and narrative as he includes passages from his verse writings into his paintings. His aim is to form a new experience for the viewer by marrying imagery and hints of narrative–always with a nod to the comic culture.

Alexander Drecun
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Alexander Drecun moved to Los Angeles in 2004 to attend Occidental College where he received his B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts (Film Emphasis) and his minor in English and Contemporary Literature.  As part of his course work, he studied film-based black and white photography, a pursuit that quickly changed from academic requirement to passion.  Based in Los Angeles, he now divides his time between street photography and his work as a director of photography on feature films, documentaries, and commercials.  The images displayed represent two facets of Drecun’s street work: candid moments of intimacy, humor, or melancholy that speak to the strangeness of the human experience and portraiture documenting the breadth of a singular human experience manifested in appearance.

Ali Matin
Born in Iran, in 1972, Ali Matin started his journey as a freelance photographer in 1991.  He traveled throughout Iran and captured the uniqueness of its diverse nature and culture. His work has been widely published by UNESCO, the Cultural Ministry of Iran, and private publishers.  Today, he pursues his passion in documentary photography; catching the synchronic moments of the unfolding time and defining it symbolically.  Matin is showcasing “Man and Nature” in this exhibition.

Anthony Kraus
A Native American from the Watanak tribe, Anthony Kraus now lives in San Francisco where he is pursuing his masters in Indigenous and Buddhist philosophy at San Francisco State University.  In his free time, Kraus trains as a cage-fighter.  His work as a live-painter and muralist has won awards while at the same time stirring controversy.  He thinks art will save the world.

Ashleigh Sumner
Ashleigh Sumner is a self-taught artist living in Los Angeles. Originally from North Carolina, Sumner received her B.A. in Theatre Arts before moving west to pursue an acting career in stage, film, and television. Influenced and inspired by the social, physical, and artistic environment of California, Sumner expanded her creative pursuits beyond the stage to the canvas. While Sumner is still professionally involved in the collaborative process of performance, she finds tranquility in the solitary process of painting.

Ben Encarnacion aka Benedigital
Ben Encarnacion aka Benedigital escaped the streets of South Central Los Angeles over 13 years ago to become a successful graphic designer and interactive art director. He draws upon a background in graphic design, architecture, fine arts, and animation to produce work for his extensive client list, which includes Warner Brothers, Lucas Arts, Relativity Media, Discovery Channel, Disney, HBO, General Motors, and Kia, just to name a few.

Inspired by his vocation, his avocation began to emerge and 2 years ago Benedigital began creating his own art in earnest. Channeling his personal experiences thru graffiti, painting, computer graphics, and creating mixed media, he addressed issues of gang violence, social injustice, and his rich heritage.  The evolution of his art is a fusion of the underground electronic music scene and his digital fantasy world. Embracing this energy, Benedigital has become a fixture in the growing live painting community in Los Angeles.

Boris Litvinov
Boris Litvinov started sculpting at an early age using materials harvested from broken home appliances and any hardware he could find. More recently, Litvinov has added stone sculpture to his repertoire. As in his early works, the prevailing theme for his art remains a change in physical form, a metamorphosis from a cold, dead media to life-like shapes and forms. As a sculptor, Litvinov reaches into his professional experience as a physical therapist.  He has come into contact with many bodies, resulting in art that often reminds people of natural body curves or shapes.

Chase
Chase is an artist/designer and Belgium transplant now based in Los Angeles. He spends most of his time painting free murals that contain uplifting messages in cities around the world. Best known for his “Remember Who You Are” and “Awareness Geezers” campaigns, the intent behind his work is to inspire people to follow their hearts and to remind them to stay connected to their inner child. In 2006 Chase was named as one of Italian Vogue’s favorite street artists, alongside Shepard Fairey and Banksy.

Christina Angelina
Christina Angelina has been an artist her entire life. After attending NYU, the Art Center College of Design, and OTIS, she graduated with a BFA from UCLA in 2008. Additionally, through UCLA she has attended universities in Italy and Greece, focusing on Art History and Classics. Angelina has owned, curated and co-owned four galleries, with her present space being Starfighter Studios in Venice, Ca.  Her work has also been featured at the Oscar suites at the Pacific Design Center, LA Fashion Week, the Brewery Art Walk, the Downtown Art Walk, the Venice Art Walk, the Venice Art Crawl, the Abbot Kinney Festival, Equality California Events, the Catalina Art Walk and Lightning in a Bottle. Her work is constantly changing so you can look forward to some new and exciting pieces this summer at Create:Fixate.

Farzad Kohan
The thought provoking works of Farzad Kohan range from drawings and paintings to sculpture, installation and photography. Kohan is widely known for his experimental work using unconventional methods and mediums.

Kohan comments that his work is merely a reflection of how he sees the world around him. “My art reflects what is often a simultaneous experience of both the struggle and beauty that comprises life. With my art, I communicate across cultural divides, language barriers, religion and gender.  I’m a citizen of this world.”

General.LA
General.LA has shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), the Geffen, A+D Museum of Architecture and Design, and the prestigious Art Center College of Design, where he was top of his class. He was creative consultant for the first graphic tee campaign with American Apparel, designer and consultant of Coachella’s 2008 center stage with Pulse Architecture, has just finished designing and co-producing a 300M Major-Studio feature film yet-to-be released, and is principle of his own design firm General.LA and Co-founder of the agency Monumental International Ltd. He has been a guest critic at Art Center College of Design’s Environmental Design and Fine Art program, UCLA AUD, and Southern California Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc. General.LA is currently developing the next evolution of 2001’s Parametricism, this time microgenre-izing specific evolutionary “lexicon.genetics” as well as creating its primary manifestation known as the phenomena of “General.ization,” the unifying formula of the universe.

Hagop Belian
Hagop Belian was born and raised in Syria before moving to the United States in his early teens.  His creative process began while studying at UC Santa Cruz, where he earned a BA in Mathematics. His work explores the possibilities of illusion and how nothing is ever as it seems. It is about the deconstruction of the human condition and the “unlearning” of one’s own belief system.  Each piece allows Belian to reveal another layer of the hologram of life.  He currently lives in Venice Beach where he continues to explore the unreal.

Jaja Dario
Born in Los Angeles in 1979, Jaja Dario was raised in Manila where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts-Painting at the University of the Philippines in 2004. Dario’s creative approach revolves around the mystical and transpersonal realms of consciousness, and was brought about by a deeply felt experience of oneness with the universe. Her artistic process begins by being intuitively informed of the song that she names each painting after, then she drafts multiple points of concentric circles with a compass on a wooden panel frame. Dario then sets the stage for a visual journey of exploration in color perspective through value, intensity, and layers of emulsion. She carefully plays with the intervals of time and space, spinning around the wooden panel as she paints, composing and creating her lively geometric tones and harmonious forms in attempt to visually vibrate the music of the spheres.

James Ketover
James Ketover was born in Salt Lake City, UT.  During secondary school in New York he was privileged to study art with the distinguished illustrator, Bill Parsons.  He credits Mr. Parsons with teaching him the importance of careful observation, creativity and execution.  Ketover regards art and design as a constant reminder that there are no creative restraints except those individuals place upon themselves.

This work investigates different modes of representation in order to reveal various qualitative aspects of spatial organization.  The art was inspired by Louis Sullivan’s A System of Architectural Ornament According with a Philosophy of Man’s Powers (1922).

Jasko Begovic
Born in Bosnia, Jasko Begovic creates art that is both probing and poignant, and although his pieces are conspicuously filled with anguish, they are also about alacrity and elation. His art breathes into his memories and has no rules or borders.

Jena Priebe
Conceptual sculptor Jena Priebe lives and works in Los Angeles, California. In her studio in downtown LA, she works to achieve a symbiotic relationship with her life and the creation of her art. She uses a myriad of media and her assemblages include mirrors, glass, antiquated found objects, metals, adhesives and the guts of machines. Some things are haggled over, bartered for, unearthed in a forgotten family attic or pulled from the depths of tangled industrial salvage yards. Her pieces are meant to give the mechanical metaphor of the path we take through the complexities of life.

Ultimately, she wants to express the magic of those things we often take for granted. To capture the simplicity of wonder and joy we sometimes forget for our everyday surroundings.

John Lavezzo
John Lavezzo makes orb paintings.  The space created is threefold: optical illusion, abstraction and relief.  The optical illusion occurs when tinted, cast and painted plaster hemispheres are perceived as a two dimensional surface.  The abstraction exists in the form of colors, shapes and patterns made up of orbs and the space of the canvas.  The relief is revealed in the physical presence of the work. Changes within the orbs and their placement are made in an improvisational way as influenced by his mood, energy level, and intuition.

Justin Snyder
The Long Beach based artist Justin Snyder is an emerging painter living in Long Beach, CA. After spending 8 years working as a film editor for Twentieth Century FOX, he has now taken his art career full time. His latest body of work, consisting of paintings on canvas and wood, has been described as dimensional layouts of echoing harmonics, distorted body forms, and organic abstraction.  Snyder is an active figure in the Los Angeles Art Community and has become an activist and outreach worker around issues on homelessness and starvation.

Kenneth Ober
Kenneth Houghton Ober was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 22, 1972.  He studied Art, Art History, and Literature at the University of Maryland in College Park for two years. The art and culture of Asia served as an introduction to Buddhist philosophy, which led him to Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.  The desire to connect with a larger art world brought Ober to California, where he graduated from Otis College of Art and Design in 2001.

Ober’s current paintings are meditations, exploring and defining time and space through complex fields created by using the excessive repetition of simple, small lines.  The paintings are made primarily with a tool designed for pin-striping automobiles, which is used to apply relentlessly consistent lines of paint to subtly textured canvas.

Kuger Peterson
Kuger Peterson is an artist based in Los Angeles.  His surrealistic assemblages ventilate his political concerns and ignite a dialogue between the viewer and the subject.  Ironic situations and rhetorical subversions inspired by the media and our dominant institutions fuel each piece.  Instead of passively absorbing the work, the viewer is confronted with moral dilemmas, implied narratives, and familiar imagery.

Mark Dugally
Mark Dugally is an artist, designer and bike builder in the Los Angeles area. A native to the area, he grew up around architectural design and a family business of custom homes. His love of motorcycles and passion for the extraordinary come together in the rolling creations he creates, which are also functional pieces of art. Dugally’s work is all about exotic materiality mixed with an aesthetic that questions what we know as “motorcycle.”

Michelle Matthews
Michelle Matthews is a photographer, artist and graphic designer.  Since 2007 she has been creating a body of work that relates to the representation of photography through embroidery. From a distance, these works are typically read as photographs. It is only when the viewer steps closer to the piece that they become disoriented by the materiality of the thread. Anonymous spaces become materialized in tens of thousands of stitches, and the thread supplants the photographic pixel. What has been typically a medium of celebration, national pride, corporate championing and consumer trade, becomes a place for making the banal and insignificant heroic, bringing into focus, the history, consequence and potential of our built environment. Although we build it, at the end of the day, Matthews’s work brings attention to how space defines us as both individuals, and as a society.

Mister Pike
Mister Pike produces art in the time and space of inspiration, on street walks, using discarded materials.  This disregards the art object, instead encouraging art as a re-arrangement of what is already there.  It is “art” only for the time it remains intact, the digital photograph being the record of art taking place.  Mister Pike creates a story using comic strip narration, a medium easily understood by anyone. Graffiti, vandalism, and invasion of public space are also brought forth in his art, yet the materials in the pieces were already there and can easily be removed.  The messages are typically playful with a humorous approach to serious topics.

Patrick Haemmerlein
A native of Kinderhook, NY, Patrick Haemmerlein is a freelance designer and artist living in Los Angeles. After receiving his BFA from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2000, Haemmerlein took a long road trip across the country and settled down in LA.  There he began to obsessively photograph the city and its components. He gradually moved into a new art form as he started to combine and create the images he was shooting. Reflecting on the issues of the day, Haemmerlein explores themes of nature versus industry and how they can coexist or clash.

Rebecca Cabage
Rebecca Cabage graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Photographic Illustration. After graduation Cabbage moved to Los Angeles, seeking solace in the California warmth and sunshine after 4 years in the cold, cold winters of upstate New York.

Cabage has worked for clients such as Honda/Acura (via Genex) and Virgin Records.  She has also shown her work in various galleries in Los Angeles, including MOPLA and AFTA. In addition to photography, she works as the Director for Studio Bookings at Smashbox Studios. She is currently in production for her book “Save the Salton Sea.”

Sonja Solinas
Los Angeles artist Sonja Salinas, a.k.a. Little Sonrisa, paints quirky worlds that might exist in the gap between reality and dreams. These whimsical creations are influenced by the dark lowbrow movement and the strange universe of surrealism.

Having a strong background in graphic design, the artist works not only digitally, but also in oil and colored pencil on wood panel and canvas.  Her latest body of work, a collection of eccentric humanlike birds telling nostalgic stories to the child within is her interpretation of mythology, in which birds have been symbols of power and freedom, linking the human world to surreal realms that lie beyond ordinary experience.

Stephan Canthal
Technology is a key component in the work of Stephan Canthal.  He began experimenting with the photographic medium while pursuing a Fine Arts degree at California State University of Long Beach.  His interest in advancing this medium and its process has led him to printing on multiple surfaces, including aluminum, wood, film, and specialty papers. As he explores the idea of printing images on different surfaces, he has begun to use texture not only to accent the image, but also to create a communication between substrate and imagery.

Yu Cotton-well
Yu Cotton-well was born and grew up in Yokohama, Japan.  A decade ago, she decided to move to California to expand her cultural and artistic experience. She uses fiber as her main medium and often blends different kinds of materials, including every day objects.  She seeks to create a relationship between her personal life and her artwork, as well as to convey a message that she believes is always hidden in everyday life.

Cotton-well also likes to combine written materials with her visual media to deepen the meanings both visually and conceptually. Her recent piece “3yrs 9mons 25dys” transforms ordinary diaries into a three-dimensional piece with her personal memories placed in drawers.  Cotton-well wishes to capture those delicate moments in life where we pause and look inward to reflect.

~Video Artists~

Stuart Scanlon
For the last decade and a half Stuart Scanlon has created animation, motion graphics and visual effects for commercials, film titles and theme parks. In recent years he has fused those talents and his formal music training to create musically inspired video work. His desire to return to his live performance roots and his love of the underground dance music scene has inspired his process of designing fixed visual compositions which he deconstructs and reassembles in real-time. His work can be seen on permanent installation in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong as well as appearing temporarily in the hills of San Diego, the deserts of Nevada, the warehouses of Los Angeles and televisions near you.

Ken Murphy
Ken Murphy is a musician, programmer, artist, and tinkerer living in San Francisco.  He is interested in the intersection of art and technology.  His past projects include abstract, luminescent artworks using LEDs and “Blinkybugs”–simple, blinking electronic insects that can be built from few parts.  They are now available in the form of a combination book and kit.  He also has written how-to articles for Popular Science and Make Magazine.  His musical background includes film scoring, as well as producing “music buttons” used by NPR programs such as “All Things Considered.”

“A History of the Sky” is a time-lapse visualization of the sky, clouds, weather and light over a long period of time.  An image of the sky is captured every 10 seconds for a full year; the images from each day are assembled into a movie, and the days are arranged chronologically.  The mosaic of time-lapse movies reveals the cyclical patterns of sunrise and sunset over the course of the year.

~Live Painting~

Kat Dawes
Dynamic and charismatic, Kat Dawes can be recognized by her signature double braids and head wrap. Communicating with her entire being, Dawes’s contagious energy makes her compelling and memorable.

In 2006, Dawes traveled Africa to intimately understand the Laws of the Universe, hitchhiking from South to Central Africa and back again for a year with minimal possessions and financial resources.  Her vision inspired her to create a unifying word – NOWism™ – that celebrates the practice of wisdom expressed throughout all cultures and ages. NOWism™ is a universal reminder service, encouraging people to participate in the present moment by BEING their desired results…NOW.

In addition to live painting, Dawes will be giving a short talk about her campaign for the NOW.

~Fashion and Jewelry Designers~

Delevo Designs
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo designs, in the year 2000, even traveling to Bali to teach her stylized designs to the master artisans there. Upon landing in Los Angeles, she worked with several high end designers, and early in 2010 co-founded d i a l e c t gallery on 6th Street downtown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is hand-crafted, elegant and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones and recycled materials to create universal and distinctive designs.

ONA Los Angeles
Leona Giddings, aka Ona, began her mission to be a fashion designer in 1999. She attended a fashion program in her home town of Tucson AZ, then in 2000 moved to Los Angeles when accepted to FIDM.  For ten years she worked in the fashion industry, learning and developing her skills, working as a pattern maker, assistant designer at Fredericks of Hollywood and eventually moving on to “ready to wear” in technical design.

ONA Los Angeles can be described as a fiercely elegant collection of Men’s and Women’s contemporary clothing. Dresses and tops for women are often versatile, making them wearable several different ways. Many of the printed styles feature exclusive and original textile artwork.

Viola Living Jewels
Jessica Viola is a botanical designer and the founder of Viola Living Jewels and Viola Gardens. For the past thirteen years, Viola has been cultivating her design portfolio and practice based on sustainability, whole-system solutions and artistic vision.  Viola Gardens was born nearly six years ago, specializing in permaculture-based botanical design, CA native plant restoration, drought-tolerant water-wise artscapes, edible gardens and organics.  Viola Gardens has worked with a large range of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, both residentially and commercially.  Viola lectures on sustainable landscape design and permaculture at Santa Monica College, Venice Community Housing and Pepperdine University.  After many years of working in design, studying, stretching, exploring holistic living, traveling to South and Central America, playing music, singing, making art, creating gardens and teaching,  Viola Living Jewels was born.  The collection features fashion-forward botanical jewelry; amulets of our wild essence.

Fahmina
Topanga eco-designer Fahmina is tarnishing the thought that leather can’t be green. The Bangladeshi New Yorker model reconstructs gorgeous, handmade leather accessories from reclaimed and pre-cycled leather. 100% of the leather used is pre-consumer waste, salvaged from factory cutting tables.  Mixing colors and textures fearlessly, she creates elegant design that is chic, urban and utilitarian, hand made with excellent quality.  The fanny clutches are an instant hit because they are a chic rendition of the good ol’ fanny pack. Other merchandise includes bangle style Slit Cuffs, gauntlets, Komorbondhs, and belts for men and women. Earrings are constructed with leather and14K gold hooks or sterling silver hooks, and are therefore are hypoallergenic.  Everything is designed and engineered with ingenious simplicity.  This is an eco-conscious company paving the way towards a green and sustainable world. Leather art from the heart.

Mamacita Jewelry
Mamacita Jewelry by Erin Ferro began in 1996. Each piece is handcrafted and one of a kind. Usually made from 18k gold filled wire and chain, each piece is wire-wrapped with love. Mamacita gathers inspiration from her family and friends, Quintano Roo, the ocean, the desert, and the semi- precious stones, wood, shells, feathers and beads that she collects along the way. You can find Mamacita at the outdoor artist market on Abbott Kinney in Venice on Sundays and in various boutiques.

Jenneration Fix
Jenneration Fix is a small company made up of two Jennifers:  two women who wanted to help the environment in their own way.  They aim to make a difference in the world by transforming rescued materials into art and supporting various non-profit organizations at the same time.  Jenneration Fix, in effect, makes a complete circle back into the community by taking potential pollutants in the world from businesses and individuals, creating fun and useful items and then donating a portion of their profits back into a wide variety of charities.

The crafty ladies use materials such as discarded fabrics and clothing pieces, leather, scrap wood, e-waste, warped vinyl records, corks, and plastic packaging to make art work, jewelry, purses and clutches, pet toys, clocks, greeting cards and other quirky and fun gifts!

Solsis Clothing for the Soul

~The Audio Lab~

Slash Fiction
Slash Fiction is the remix-slash-DJ duo comprised of Henry Slash and Mick Fiction (with additional production from Chris Winston) and signed to Sleazetone Records. They are the resident DJs at Full Frontal Disco and have lovingly destroyed the dance floor at other clubs, parties and events too numerous to list.
http://www.myspace.com/slashfiction
http://soundcloud.com/slashfiction

DJ Miss Bliss
DJ Miss Bliss is one of the only female DJs in town that still spins vinyl records.  You can catch her all over Hollywood at places like The Viper room, The Foundation Room, King King and Cinespace. When she is not digging for records or spinning her bliss, she is surfing waves at the beach.  Don’t miss the bliss.
www.julieji.com

Jason Bentley (KCRW)
Jason Bentley serves as Music Director of KCRW and host of their signature program “Morning Becomes Eclectic.”  He has had a distinguished career as a music supervisor for film and advertising, and has worked an exhaustive DJ schedule in bohemian Los Angeles. Bentley is a tireless champion of new music and culture with an influence close to home and around the globe. Bentley is no stranger to the business side of music, having worked in A&R at Maverick and Island Records, music supervising the Matrix trilogy, and consulting for countless advertisements, video games, and live events. While acting as the Music Director of the station where he’s grown up – literally and figuratively – is a challenging task, Bentley is devoted to leading KCRW’s team of talented DJs into a new era.
www.kcrw.com/jasonbentley

Love in the Circus
Love in the Circus features unique and seductive melodies that combine and blur the lines of electronica, rock, jazz and blues with sultry, edgy, museful hooks. The group was formed by singer/bassist Leanna Rachel and multimedia producer/guitarist Chris Brickler. Curtis Cunningham joins the group on drums, Eric Hargett on keys/saxophone and Cha Chi on percussion/synths. The High Priestess and Leah Zeger add beautiful textures on the harp and violin, respectively. The group has recently played at festivals in Bali, Europe and just toured Australia and Indonesia over New Years.
www.loveinthecircus.com

Morgan Alexander (Bottom Floor)
Morgan Alexander began building a sonic home in house music during the early nineties.  Career highlights include a residency with LIFE, Boston’s largest deep house night, traveling with Mountain Dew’s entertainment presence for the X Games, regular features on the West Coast, and hosting “Wednesday Revolutions,” the deep installment of Boston’s revered electronic dance music show on WERS 88.9FM.  Alexander volunteers a healthy portion of his time to a board appointment with NextAid – the dance music community’s response to vulnerable children and youth in Africa.  2011 finds him very much at home in sunny Santa Monica, producing Bottom Floor.  The venture, formed with Halo of CityDeep Music, provides a multi-faceted platform for DJs and producers prolific in their ability to squeeze soul out of machines.
www.thebottomfloor.com
www.facebook.com/morgalex

WISEACRE (theLIFT – LA / LOUIE and CHAN / FOUND LOVE – NYC)
Living in the seaside republic of Venice for 20 years, DJ Wiseacre initially established a successful career as a commercial/fine art photographer. In 2003, he decided to pick up some vinyl, a couple of turntables, a mixer, two speakers and a few friends in orderto begin the labor of love we call “throwin’ parties”. Since this time, Wiseacre has put his love for photography on hold and co-created three very successful LA parties, FUNKY IN THE MIDDLE, CUSTOM SUNDAZE and now the LIFT, which after one year is expanding to San Francisco and New York.
http://www.facebook.com/djwiseacre
http://www.louieandchan.com
http://www.facebook.com/tryandfindus

Macaya
Disco to Afrobeat, funky house to electro, soul to punk, downtempo to rock– as long as it sounds good and makes heads bob, he’ll play it. Born in the Bay Area, raised in the Pacific NW via Chile, and now a ten year resident of LA, Macaya spent time behind the decks at LACMA, The Viper Room, Tarfest, CTA Theatre Project, The Echo, Mountain Bar, and many gallery openings and/or apartment parties. He paints when he’s not DJing: www.jasonmacaya.com

Idiot Savant (Pocket Underground :: the DoLaB/Woogie)
Idiot Savant is the DJ collaboration between Jesse Wright and Ron Levy.  They cofounded Pocket Underground in 2004 as an outlet for less obvious, fun-filled events in LA and have been a staple in the Southern California House and Techno communities for over a decade.  Jesse is the Managing Director for the Woogie Stage at the Lightning in a Bottle Festival, created by the amazing collective the DoLab.  Ron has released numerous records since 2001 and smells better than Jesse.
www.facebook.com/idiotsavantmusic

Ketchup Soup
“Accordion diva Mrs. Hobbs has a new project — a collaboration with singer/songwriter lovemando called Ketchup Soup, in which her penchant for torchy, slightly surreal, old-timey French jazz-inspired numbers finds a sympathetic, if slightly more gritty, urban counterpart. Together they compose and interpret music with an arresting, romantic, and slightly noir vision of the modern bohemian cabaret.”
- Shana Nys Dambrot, Flavorpill.com
www.ketchupsoupband.com
http://www.listn.to/ketchupsoup

Shayn Almeida
As former product specialist for Native Instruments and Stanton DJ, Almeida has held residencies at clubs such as Spundae, Avalon, and Sugar.  Mixing various styles of House, TechHouse, Breaks, and Dubstep, Almeida has  played at events ranging from Earthdance, Moontribe, and Boombox, to Burning Man and the Democratic National Convention.  After taking a five year hiatus to concentrate on his Yoga studies, Almeida is now back on the scene focused on DJing and Music Production. He is currently working on original music and remixes for the dance floor, as well as down-tempo, dubbed out tracks for the yoga community.
http://DjShayn.com
http://twitter.com/ShaynAlmeida

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For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Bootleg Theater is excited to announce the brand new Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad – once again bringing together the award-winning creative team of Roht, John Ballinger and Ann Closs-Farley for an outrageous holiday production. Previous 99¢ Only shows have been critically acclaimed as a “bedazzlement of theater action and peanut gallery voyeurism” (LA Times) and “mix of heady surrealism, marvelously inventive choreography, unabashed camp, and delightful whimsy” (Backstage West).  Costumes, sets and moving sculptures in this progressive multimedia music event will once again incorporate traditional 99¢ Only Store fare, with the addition of recycled and sustainable materials this year. The interdisciplinary extravaganza, with a cast of 18 diverse performers, runs from December 4 to 19, 2010 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00pm nightly with Sunday matinees only at 3:00pm.  Performances have been extended, now running January 6 to 30, 2011 on the same schedule.

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Ashley West Leonard)

For Immediate Release:   November 5, 2010 [updated: 12/15/10]

Bootleg Theater Presents
A Brand New Music Theater Extravaganza
Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
Saturday, December 4 – Sunday, December 19, 2010

** NOW EXTENDED:  Thursday, January 6 – Sunday, January 30, 2011 **

LOS ANGELES, CA – Bootleg Theater is excited to announce the brand new Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad – once again bringing together the award-winning creative team of Roht, John Ballinger and Ann Closs-Farley for an outrageous holiday production. Previous 99¢ Only shows have been critically acclaimed as a “bedazzlement of theater action and peanut gallery voyeurism” (LA Times) and “mix of heady surrealism, marvelously inventive choreography, unabashed camp, and delightful whimsy” (Backstage West).  Costumes, sets and moving sculptures in this progressive multimedia music event will once again incorporate traditional 99¢ Only Store fare, with the addition of recycled and sustainable materials this year. The interdisciplinary extravaganza, with a cast of 18 diverse performers, runs from December 4 to 19, 2010 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00pm nightly with Sunday matinees only at 3:00pm.  Performances have been extended, now  running January 6 to 30, 2011 on the same schedule.  Doors open one hour before each show – audiences are welcome to arrive early for pre-show socializing over a beverage in Bootleg’s beer and wine bar.  General admission tickets are $25; students/seniors $18. Bootleg neighbors living in the 90057 zip code can purchase a ticket for 99¢ with proof of address (driver’s license, utility bill, etc.)  Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057.  For more information please call 213-389-3856 or visit www.bootlegtheater.com.

Despite the name, Same-O is not the same-o same-o.  While this year’s whimsical spectacle still has the same type of wildly imaginative score, costumes and choreography as in years past, key differences include an overall tone that takes more chances conceptually by exploring the issue of graceful co-existence and costumes made from paper products.  “For years, the 99¢ Only shows have blithely glorified plastic and I thought we needed to do our part to promote ethical consumerism,” says Roht.

The 2010 production takes the audience on a hero’s journey with two very different young men, Eddie and Fred, who end up getting married.  While narrative elements such as this exist in the production, the work functions more as abstract art in the Surrealist tradition, or even as progressive dance theater, than traditional linear theater.  “Logic is not of paramount importance or even necessarily appreciated,” says Roht.

99¢ Only Show Timeline –
Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad is the seventh in a series of unique 99¢ Only shows that have been entertaining Los Angeles audiences since 2002.  Each show in the series has been an original story of peace, love, struggle, and acceptance wrapped up in a singing and dancing 99¢ holiday bow.
2002 – Wonderama – Roht took his 99¢ Only Store obsession public for the first time with music, puppets, and spoken-word excerpts from corporate reports in celebration of the joy and excess of American consumerism
2003 – Splendor – the story of a Golden Boy who is abducted from the Frenchies, an enigmatic tribe of warrior-clowns, by the misunderstood misfits, the Crusties
2004 – Peace Squad Goes 99 – Peace Squad, the boy band, and their mothers save the 99¢ Only Village from the misguided Hollow Mirror Man and his molls
2005 – Route 99: Orange Star Dinner Show – set in a Wyoming dinner theater, Orange Star serves up hospitality, delicious home cookin’ and western glamour made from pool toys and plastic tablecloths
2006 – Pageant of the 4 Seasons, a 99¢ Only Modern Something – “a demented blend of low-budget Ziegfeld Follies, an earth-bound Cirque du Soleil, and the kind of performance neighborhood kids put on in somebody’s garage” (LA Weekly)
2008 – Ken Roht’s 99¢ Only Calendar Girl Competition – a meditation of sorts on beauty pageants, where the audience picks the winner

The 99¢ Only Stores deep discount retail chain has generously supported each show in the series with not only product donations but also gracious cooperation and enthusiasm since the beginning of the project.

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Ashley West Leonard)

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad Credits –
Producers: Alicia Adams, Corbett Barklie, and Jessica Hanna for Bootleg Theater
Writer/Director: Ken Roht
Choreographer: Ken Roht
Co-Composers: John Ballinger and Ken Roht
Music, Dance, and Vocal Arrangements: John Ballinger
Music Direction: John Ballinger
Costume Designer: Ann Closs-Farley
Asst. Costume Designer: Anne Hothem
Set Designer: David Offner
Technical Director: Jon Stoner
Lighting Designer: Brandon Baruch
Stage Manager: Alyssa Escalante
Video Designer: John Flynn
Visual Artists: Doron Gazit, Clare Graham, Wen Wen Hsu, Kiff Scholl, and Penny Young
Sound Designer:  Chet Leonard

Cast: Erin Anderson, Michael Bonnabel, Sissy Boyd, Tucker Bryan, Max Faugno, Stephen Heath, Spencer Kelly, Tracey A. Leigh, Julie Marie Lewis, Daniele Manzin, Lucie McGrane, John Charles Meyer, Lori Scarlett, Lake Sharp, Raul Staggs, Daniele Watts, Jonathan CK Williams, and Silvie Zamora

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Christy Borgman)

Ken Roht is a Los Angeles based music, theater and video artist.  In 2010, Roht directed and choreographed The Good Soldier Schweik for Long Beach Opera, choreographed American Night featuring Culture Clash at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; fulfilled a commission by Center Theater Group to create a new holiday show using Tschaikowsky’s score to The Nutcracker; directed his first musical feature film starring Kevin Richardson, of the Backstreet Boys; choreographed for Cornerstone Theater Company, as part of a community project in Pacoima; and he wrote a one-act opera in response to Prop 8, performed at Grand Performances, with a grant from Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. He was recently awarded a Good Works Foundation grant for an upcoming musical project and will be choreographing for New York City Opera, at Lincoln Center, in the Spring 2011.  orpheancircus.com

John Ballinger, musician and award-winning sound designer/composer, has placed songs and scores in television, on film, in theater, and on CDs. Notable collaborations include Echo’s Hammer (Theatre at Boston Court) and the 99¢ Only Store holiday shows with Ken Roht, The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater and Celebration of the Lizard with O-Lan Jones, The Joan Rivers Show (Geffen Playhouse), and playing the guitar with Christy (Chris Wells) and the NoNos. Ballinger has toured and/or recorded for Rufus Wainwright, Tracy Bonham, Pato Banton, Moira Smiley & Voco, and the national tour of Dancing with the Stars.

Ann Closs-Farley is the 2010 winner of the “Sherwood Award” presented by Center Theater Group of Los Angeles.  She teaches costume design for The Heart Project in conjunction with The LA Opera and spent the Fall in New York with the Pee Wee Herman “Live” at the Stephen Sondheim Theater on Broadway.  Her recent credits include: Disney’s Toy Story: The Musical, An Evening Without Monty Python, The Receptionist, Land of the Tigers, James and the Giant Peach, The Projectionist, Around The World in 80 Days, The Rendezvous, The Rover, Norman’s Ark, Winter Wonderettes, Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera, and Hamlet, Prince of Puddles. She earned a 2009 Ovation Award for Ken Roht’s Calendar Girl Competition, and LA Weekly and Garland awards for her work on: Batboy: The Musical, When Tigers Smoked Long Pipes, Echo’s Hammer, The Seagull, Exonerated, Mephisto, Euphoria, Plastica Fantastica, Broadway, XXX Love Act, Cinderella – Medea – Macbeth, and Ugly’s 1st World. She has also won an LADCC Award (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle) for her work on Sneaux! and Gorey Stories: The Musical as well as a Local Hero Award from Backstage West.  She is a long-time member of the Actor’s Gang and Evidence Room theater companies.  She enjoys teaching recycled-fashion at local elementary and high schools, arts organizations, festivals and museums.  www.annclossfarley.com

Bootleg Theater is a space for art: a place where Los Angeles artists can come together and create new, exciting theatrical events.  Bootleg is dedicated to producing and presenting theater, music, dance, and film in the venue’s 10,000-square foot 1930s warehouse, located in the Rampart District just west of Downtown LA. The facility, comprised of two performance spaces and a lounge, plays an integral role in the development and advancement of Bootleg’s goals: to provide a community convening place; produce brave, boundary-pushing, artistically outstanding, and highly collaborative new work — work that is exciting to people of all ages and ethnicities; and serve as a reflection of the City we all call home.  Bootleg Theater offers special group rates for parties of 8 or more.

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For more information, photos, or to arrange an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 and lynn@greengalactic.com.

Paradox Media and Vau de Vire present the highly anticipated return of The Edwardian Ball to Los Angeles on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at The Music Box.  Once again, the splendid San Francisco tradition flies south for the winter, presenting an elegant, turn of the century celebration of music, theatre, circus arts, DJs, ballroom dance, fashion, technology and, of course, the ominous art and stories of beloved author Edward Gorey. Hosted by Edwardian Ball co-creators Rosin Coven and Vau de Vire Society, the night promises an unforgettable blend of audience participation and performance with darkness, humor, and style in a stunning historic venue. The event also features “Belle of the Ball” Jill Tracy, DJ Xian, Miz Margo, Dark Garden Corsetry, and many special guests. Costumed attire is highly encouraged — all in attendance are invited to return to a time of gentility by creating characters for the occasion.

For Immediate Release:  November 11, 2010 [updated 12/23/10]

The Edwardian Ball
Returns to Los Angeles!
At The Music Box
Saturday, March 5, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – Paradox Media and Vau de Vire present the highly anticipated return of The Edwardian Ball to Los Angeles on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at The Music Box.  Once again, the splendid San Francisco tradition flies south for the winter, presenting an elegant, turn of the century celebration of music, theatre, circus arts, DJs, ballroom dance, fashion, technology and, of course, the ominous art and stories of beloved author Edward Gorey. Hosted by Edwardian Ball co-creators Rosin Coven and Vau de Vire Society, the night promises an unforgettable blend of audience participation and performance with darkness, humor, and style in a stunning historic venue. The event also features “Belle of the Ball” Jill Tracy, DJ Xian, Miz Margo, Dark Garden Corsetry, and many special guests. Costumed attire is highly encouraged — all in attendance are invited to return to a time of gentility by creating characters for the occasion.

The Music Box is located at 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028.  For more information on the venue please call 323-464-0808 or visit http://www.themusicbox.la.  Doors open and show begins at 8:00pm, and all ages are welcome (minors must be accompanied by an adult 21+ with valid ID).  General admission tickets are $28-$35 in advance, and a very limited amount of VIP Booths ($450) and VIP Balcony Couches ($500) are available for parties of up to 8.  VIP packages include best/reserved seating, table service, and complimentary absinthe cocktails.  For more information and online tickets, please visit http://www.edwardianball.com.

Since 1999, The Edwardian Ball has steadily grown from a Bay Area underground club phenomenon into a full-fledged festival of arts and culture, focusing on the esteemed works of the late, great author/illustrator Edward Gorey. Now, with the blessings of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, this one-night-only Los Angeles event of everything-under-the-midnight-sun reaches across cultural boundaries to include audiences of all ages and backgrounds, where literary fans are as welcome as goth clubgoers, where the high-flying trapeze and steam-powered machines create the backdrop for elegantly dressed ballgoers waltzing their way into the antique portrait studio. Event founder Justin Katz muses, “The demand for this event to return to Los Angeles has been incredible. It’s clear that no one city can contain this celebration, where the old world meets the world-to-be with a tip of the top hat, a cinch of the corset, and a splash of absinthe poured over a silver spoon.  We’re thrilled to bring The Edwardian Ball back to LA.”

For over a decade, The Edwardian Ball has been featuring Gorey tales brought to life on stage.  A truly prodigious and original artist, Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) gifted the world with over one hundred works, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest, and The Wuggly Ump; prize-winning set and costume designs for innumerable theater productions from Cape Cod to Broadway; a remarkable number of illustrations in publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times; as well as illustrations in books by a wide array of authors from Charles Dickens to Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Florence Heide, and many others. His well known animated credits for the PBS Mystery! series have introduced his work to millions of television viewers. Gorey’s masterful pen and ink illustrations and his ironic, offbeat humor have brought him critical acclaim and an avid following throughout the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gorey

Rosin Coven performing (singer: Midnight Rose; photo credit: Tracy Bugni) 2010

Paradox Media –
For over 13 years Paradox Media, owned by Justin Katz, has been producing an eclectic variety of art and music events in the San Francisco Bay Area, including festivals such as ArtCar Fest, How Berkeley Can You Be!?, The Oakland World Music & Jazz Festival, ArtFest’s Spectra Ball, Mission Bazaar, and Burning Man’s annual SF Decompression; independent theater with Everyday Theatre’s “The Bright River;” and nonprofit community events with Epic Arts.  Paradox is the exclusive presenter of Rosin Coven, the founders of The Edwardian Ball in 1999.  Executive Producer Katz also works for Goldenvoice/AEG Live, producing all of their concerts in the San Francisco region. http://www.paradox-media.com/production/index.html

Vau de Vire –
Founded in 1997 by husband and wife team Mike and Shannon Gaines, San Francisco-based entertainment company Vau de Vire Society has been titillating crowds around the world with their unique brand of interactive art, dance and circus events. This avant-cabaret community consists of classically-trained dancers, some of the nation’s most acclaimed acrobats, aerial artists, contortionists, side-show acts, fire-performers, thespians, and beautiful circus freaks. The group has been cross-pollinating genres by collaborating with an eclectic variety of world-renowned musicians and DJs in creating original stage shows spanning a range of social groups and subcultures. Notable recent collaborators include Cirque du Soleil (Corteo), the San Francisco Symphony, Paul Oakenfold, Moby, Paul Van Dyke, The Dresden Dolls, Peaches, Alkaline Trio, The Madd Vibe Orchestra, Crystal Method, and Tiesto. Vau de Vire has provided live support performances for James Brown, Primus, 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Velvet Revolver, The Cure, and many other highly respected international artists. In addition to producing The Edwardian Ball since 2005, Vau de Vire produces and hosts the West Coast’s longest-running and most outrageous circus-infused dance party, San Francisco’s Bohemian Carnival.  Through the years, Vau de Vire has received numerous commissions from high profile music and arts festivals to curate live music stages and program multi-day variety entertainment amidst a Vau de Vire custom built environment complete with thematic installations and large scale aerial art sculptures.  Past and ongoing clients include: Bumbershoot Festival, Download Festival, Outside Lands, Lightning in a Bottle (’07,’08, ’10), Xingolati Groove Cruise, Vegoose Festival, Exprescion on Alcatraz, and Super Village at Super Bowl ’08. http://www.vaudeviresociety.com

The Music Box –
The Music Box, renowned for its auditorium with ornate period details and stunning rooftop views of the hills, has hosted a dazzling array of nightlife events for nearly a century.  Originally a vaudeville theater from the 1920s with a speakeasy upstairs, the Henry Fonda Theater was transformed into The Music Box, a lavish sanctum of glamour and spectacle. The world-class venue is well known as one of LA’s busiest and most prestigious live entertainment destinations. The historically significant edifice, in the heart of Hollywood, was painstakingly refurbished recently to its original Golden Age glory. The dramatic, newly remodeled Music Box features a moodily lit, antechamber design with original flourishes. Luxurious theater curtains surround the ballroom and Bosch art imagery adorns the walls. The new design also features plush private booths with optimal viewing, a two-sided main bar and checkered dance floor. The original sloped seating has been replaced with a level floor. The balcony offers a unique party perspective with a commanding view of the main stage.  To complete the venue’s recent Hollywood makeover, the marquee was updated with lighting from the original 1926 movie theater design.

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For more information, images, or to set up interviews with the event producers or any of the cast and crew, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Vau de Vire Society at the 10th Annual Edwardian Ball (photo credit: TheBlight.net /Nightshade/Neil Girling)

NextAid and Make-Up Designory
With Help from DJ Rap, Colette, Samantha James and Eve Falcon
Launch New Promo Campaign For
MUD Cares Palette of Eye Colors
To Fund Construction & Education for Red Rhino Orphanage Project in Kenya

LOS ANGELES, CA – Believing that everyone deserves a beautiful future, the nation’s leading make-up educational institute, Make-Up Designory (MUD), created the MUD Cares Palette of Eye Colors to benefit NextAid and one of its partners in Africa, the Red Rhino Orphanage Project (RROP). 100% of the sales from the limited-edition four-color eye shadow palette are being generously donated to NextAid to help RROP build a foundation for a better tomorrow. Once the specially commissioned palettes sell out the funds will provide construction of orphans’ homes in a poverty-stricken town 25 miles southeast of Nairobi, Kenya. Each of these eco-friendly structures will provide long-term shelter, food and medical needs for some of the most vulnerable orphans in the area. NextAid has increased efforts to sell the remaining palettes with the launch of an extensive online promotional campaign with the help of lovely superstars Colette, DJ Rap, Eve Falcon, and Samantha James. To help spread beauty from the inside out, purchase the palette online at http://shop.mudshop.com/mud-cares-palette or MUD retail stores located in Burbank and SoHo.

The MUD Cares Palette, retailing for $25.00, is a quad of eye shadows developed and created by Make-Up Designory. The four colors were hand-selected by members of NextAid to bring out the natural beauty of every skin tone. Stay grounded with Spanish Gold and Dulce de Leche, create a warm glow with Cashmere, or visualize a better world with vibrant Moss. The powders are soft and finely milled with just a touch of sheen. The shades work for most skin tones and complexions.

By selling only 1,000 palettes, MUD will raise $25,000 to fund the final construction and initial operations of two homes expected to house 16 children at Red Rhino Orphanage Project. Each of the timber-framed sustainable structures will provide basic necessities including medical supplies for rescued children, children at risk, and orphans in a safe, encouraging and healthy environment. The project also funds the children’s educational pursuits, from elementary school through secondary and university or trade school.

NextAid co-founder and director, Lauren Segal-Avenna explains, “The children Red Rhino Orphanage Project is caring for are some of the saddest cases in the region. These are kids that have absolutely nowhere else to go. These were once babies who were literally left on door steps, trash heaps… totally abandoned.”

In late 2009, four incredible talents from DJ culture came together for a MUD makeover and photo shoot at MUD’s Burbank studio to help NextAid spread the word to their combined global fan-bases. Los Angeles-based DJs and artists Colette, DJ Rap, Eve Falcon, and Samantha James, all generous supporters of NextAid, freed up their busy schedules and volunteered their time. Look for the NextAid/MUD web-banners featuring the four DJ beauties splashed around the internet this spring. Visit MUD’s blog to see the behind-the-scenes photo shoot http://www.mudblog.net/blog/make-up_designory_nextaid_building_a_foundation_for_a_better_tomorrow.

About RROP:
The Red Rhino Orphanage Project’s mission is to house and educate some of the most unfortunate children in Kenya, enabling them to become contributing members of society and leaders of the next generation. RROP is committed to providing the children it serves with a sanctuary from the immediate and pressing dangers of life, housing, food and medical needs. The orphanage will work in partnership with the surrounding community in ways that foster local commerce and positively impact the environment. The project also funds the children’s educational pursuits, from elementary school through secondary and university or trade school. Additionally, RROP sponsors the locally run rescued baby home Springs of Hope in the nearby town of Machakos. The completion of the homes will allow the overflow of older children from Springs of Hope to move to the newer RROP facilities. For more information on RROP please visit http://www.rrop.org.

About Colette:
With her disarming doe eyes and a heartwarming demeanor, Om Records’ Colette possesses the unmistakable voice of post-millennial house music. Her sweet-but-sultry, classically trained voice highlights any beat that flows behind it, making the former choirgirl-cum-Chicago-house-siren a mainstay in the global dance music scene. In the late 90s, Colette started the SuperJane troupe with fellow Chicagoan DJs Dayhota, Lady D and Heather, paving the way for women seeking equal time behind the decks as their male counterparts. In 2007, Colette released Push, the highly anticipated follow up album to her critically acclaimed Billboard Magazine No. 1 charting debut album Hypnotized. Inspired by her house music upbringing in the birth place of the beat, Push harks back to the days where electro, house, hip hop and freestyle music ruled the airwaves and does something few seem to do these days: create a complete album of hits that will grab anyone with a love for good music. Despite international acclaim, Colette continues to stay grounded in the Windy City with her monthly residency at the Metro/Smart Bar. For more on Colette please visit http://www.djcolette.com.

About DJ Rap:
Over her 15-year career, DJ Rap has moved effortlessly between genres, staking her claim on various styles within the electronic spectrum, while simultaneously pushing the limits of rock and pop. The First Lady of Drum ʻnʼ Bass and the undisputed Queen of the Turntables, her music has infiltrated club systems and car stereos worldwide, and her numerous forays into video game and motion picture soundtracks have solidified her pedigree as one of dance musicʼs most successful and prolific artists. In February 2010, DJ Rap will release Synthesis (Ministry of Sound), a brand new studio album that weaves together a full compliment of synthetic textures and organic moods, and paints a lucid picture of her journey as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Also, check out Metasyn, the spankin’ new by-product of DJ Rap and fresh up ‘n’ comer Chemical Hero dishing out a brand new drum&bass sound that is unlike anything this side of the moon. Learn more about DJ Rap here http://www.djrap.com.

About Eve Falcon:
Anyone watching E! Entertainment Television over the past year has no doubt seen internationally renowned DJ, producer and vocalist Eve Falcon heating up the decks on the channel’s “12 Sexiest Hollywood Jobs.” Known for her impeccably programmed DJ sets that transcend genre pigeonholing, Eve Falcon has once again brought her flair for music on a fresh new production with renowned DJ and producer DJ Rap. The result is the banging progressive house tune “Good Times,” a peak time floor-filler with uplifting vocals courtesy of Eve herself. The tune is slated for release on DJ Rap’s Impropa Talent imprint in the coming months. Also, Eve’s newest mix, “Bloom,” continues to raise eyebrows and garner accolades as another flawless audio journey. A perfect example of Eve’s unique signature style and energy, the mix has been described as “…sweet beats and smooth transitions make Falcon’s mixes long lived pleasures” – http://www.evefalcon.com.

About Samantha James:
Songwriter and performer Samantha James has spent the past seven years honing her estimable skills as a modern-day singer/songwriter within the dance/electronic/soul genre. Her sultry style, vocal cadences, and international rhythms are largely influenced by such artists as Sade, Basia, Amel Larrieux, Bebel Gilberto and Morcheeba. On her debut album Rise for San Francisco based indie label Om Records, Samantha teamed up with producer and co-writer Sebastian Arocha Morton (ROCAsound) who states, “talented, beautiful, passionate, and dedicated… Samantha James is the real thing – as both recording artist and stage performer. She is a welcome and beautiful new face in the world of dance-electronic music.” The soulful songstress, much to the pleasure of her adoring fans, is in the process of completing her highly-anticipated second album, with the first single due to be released in February – myspace.com/sammyjmusic.

About Make-Up Designory:
Founded in 1997, Make-Up Designory (MUD) is a private, post-secondary institution that provides rigorous training in the field of make-up artistry for film, television, fashion, and retail. At their two thriving campuses in Los Angeles and New York, students from around the world gain expertise in beauty make-up artistry, hairstyling, character make-up, special make-up effects, portfolio development and more. In addition, MUD develops and markets a line of professional-quality make-up products and precision tools, which are supported by expert tips and tested in challenging, real-life situations. MUD products are available through select retailers in the United States, Asia, and Europe, as well as online. For more information about MUD products, please visit: www.mudshop.com, or to learn more about the school, please visit www.mud.edu.

About NextAid:
NextAid’s mission is to improve the lives of children and youth in Africa by promoting and implementing sustainable solutions. NextAid raises awareness for, and partners with, community-based projects and grassroots organizations in Africa and believes that an integrated approach is the best formula for establishing real and lasting change. Through music events and public education initiatives, NextAid provides empowering opportunities for concerned individuals to make a difference – learn more at www.nextaid.org.

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For more information, photos or interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn[at]greengalactic.com.

Buddha Bark

Buddha Bark
Celebrity and Canine Style Lounge
Debuts During the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards
In Hollywood on Friday, January 15 & Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hosted by Actress Camille Guaty, Buddha Bark Founder
Madison Svensson, and Stylist to the Stars Chaz Dean

LOS ANGELES, CA – Buddha Bark is the premiere wellness, pampering and gifting lounge for celebrities, media, tastemakers 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. For additional information, please visit www.buddhabark.com.

Hosted by Buddha Bark founder Madison Svensson, hair stylist to the stars Chaz Dean, and actress Camille Guaty, this pre-Golden Globes weekend retreat will take place at the gorgeous, canine friendly Chaz Dean Studio located at 6444 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028. The January event will feature a canine couture fashion show, animal communicators, art exhibit, silent auction, doggie talent showcase, hair salon appointments, canine mini-massages, mobile groomers, agility demos, and Frisbee dogs pet tricks. Refreshments provided by Coca Cola, Dasani Water, Hansen’s, Honest Tea, Synergy Kombucha, and Vitamin Water. The event will also feature celebrity dog lovers Elisabetta Canalis, Daryl Hannah, Kevin Connely, Molly Sims, Kristin Bauer (“True Blood”), Charlotte Ross (“Glee”), Jason Biggs, Daisy Fuentes, David Faustino, Kym Johnson (“Dancing with the Stars”), Corin Nemec, Rex Lee, Elaine Hendrix, Rachel Hunter, Rebecca DeMornay, and more.

Intended to be fun and relaxing for guests, each event will benefit and draw attention to serious animal rights causes. Buddha Bark is about extending the circle of compassion by educating and promoting a lifestyle of harmony and wellness between humans and their canine companions. Buddha Bark’s debut event will benefit Best Friends Animal Society and its campaign, “Puppies Aren’t Products,” which advocates supporting adoption and shelters rather than dishonest and inhumane pet retailers and breeders involved with puppy mills. Learn more here: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/puppies_arent_products.cfm.

Celebrity and canine wellness experts will host a series of activities throughout both event days from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Dogs are welcome both days as are celebrities and VIP members of the media. This event is not open to the public. Appointments may be booked with animal communicators, dog groomers, canine and people masseuse/masseurs, and for mini facials, makeovers, and styling sessions with Chaz Dean Studio. Celebrity transport will also be available between Buddha Bark and the GBK Mondrian gifting lounge and/or to/from home.

Planned activities, events and entertainment during Buddha Bark’s pre-Golden Globes pampering weekend include:

Doggie Fashion Show presented by D.O.G. Pet Boutique -
A celebrity hosted doggie couture Spring 2010 fashion show featuring fun, themed outfits from the best dog fashion designers in the world. The show will run on both Friday and Saturday afternoon commencing at 3:00pm both days and will be presented by the world’s hottest pet boutique – D.O.G. Pet Boutique.

Art Gallery and Silent Auction to benefit Best Friends Animal Society -
The art gallery will showcase artistic expressions depicting man’s relationship with the canine world through photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, and mixed media. Both humorous and dramatic pieces regarding a dog’s perspective on life will be included. Featured artists to include Jesse Freidin Photographer, Nancy Levine, Andy Stolarek, Sam Price, Shaun Alexander, and Shine Pet Photos. Auction items include a limited edition Chién Vivant Couture “Nice” doggie bed (retail value $ 1,947), clothes by visionary couture and eco-designer Linda Loudermilk, artwork, jewelry, spa services, and much more. Proceeds from Best Friends Animal Society Silent Auction will benefit its “Puppies Aren’t Products” campaign.

Chaz Dean Studio -
Stylists from the salon will be pampering celebrities and media with salon appointments for blowouts, cleansing and styling.

Facials –
The Healing Rose will provide mini facials.

Canine Wellness Services -
Appointments are available for Animal Communicator sessions and Canine mini-massages. Canine mobile groomer Wizard of Paws is also available for appointments. Onsite pet sitting and walking provided by Healthy Spot.

Entertainment -
Agility Demonstrations, Frisbee Dogs, and Pet Tricks.

DJs -
DJ entertainment provided by Glenn Wiekert of ArcheDream for HUMANKIND, Brion Topolski of Zen Arts, Ken Hankins of ElectroBass, Ryan Jesena aka Bunny DJ Lu5h.

Living Sculpture -
Dancers, will add to the magic of this weekend oasis with movement that communicates universal ideas and emotions to promote understanding and compassion.

Events sponsors include Beasty Bling (http://www.beastybling.com), Buddha Dog Massage (http://buddhadog.webs.com), Chien de Nimes (www.chiendenimes.com), Chién Vivant Couture (www.chienvivantcouture.com), Dog Pet Boutique (www.dogpetboutique.com), Doggie Driving (www.doggiedriving.com), Kane and Couture (www.kaneandcouture.com), Maggie Bags (www.maggiebags.net), Modern Dog Magazine (www.moderndogmagazine.com), Pet Flys (http://www.petflys.com), Shine Pet Photos (www.shinepetphotos.com), The Pet Loo (http://www.thepetloo.com), Weider Pet Health (www.weiderpethealth.com), and Wellness Natural Food for Pets (www.wellnesspetfood.com).

About the Hosts:
Madison Svensson is the founder and spokesperson of the Buddha Bark canine lounge event series. She is a canine wellness trainer and consultant. She is certified in Canine Massage, a member of IAAMB (International Association of Animal Massage and Bodywork), a member of The Animal Wellness Association, and the producer of DJ Doggie canine bioacoustic music therapy CDs.

Celebrity hair stylist Chaz Dean single-handedly transformed the beauty industry with the wildly successful WEN Hair & Body Care line. The all-natural line has replaced the harmful detergents and sulfates in soap and shampoo with nourishing botanical ingredients that work wonders on even the most dry, damaged and frizzy hair. When Dean is not focusing on developing new groundbreaking products and his personal clients, you’ll find him hiking with his dogs, who even have their own playground at the studio.

American actress Camille Guaty’s first big break came when she was a finalist on the WB’s reality show “Popstars,” which led to her film debut in the movie Chaos Theory and her television introduction as Maria, the maid in the sitcom “The Help.” Guaty has had major roles in the television shows “Raising Dad,” “Prison Break,” “Las Vegas” and in the Disney Channel original movie Gotta Kick It Up. She is currently starring on the hit ABC show “The Nine.” Of Buddha Bark founder Svensson, Guaty shares, “I am so supportive of Madison and everything she is doing for our furry four-legged friends. My two dogs were at a kill shelter and they’re the best decisions I have ever made. I support “Don’t shop, Adopt” and you should too!”

About the Event Venue:
Located in the heart of Hollywood, this private complex is a Zen-like refuge tucked away in a charming bungalow surrounded by bamboo and filled with the scent of eucalyptus and lavender. Chaz Dean chose to have no signage at his studio. Instead you’ll find ivy-covered walls, lush foliage, trickling fountains, calming sitting areas and hanging lanterns. The living room and parlor of this 1921 Craftsman home are filled with overstuffed velvet furniture in jewel tones and exquisite hand wrought iron surrounds the hanging mirrors at the stylist’s stations. The salon’s services include hair color and cuts, conditioning treatments and makeup application and lessons. Learn more at http://www.chazdean.com.

About Best Friends Animal Society:
Best Friends Animal Society is a nonprofit, membership organization building no-kill programs and partnerships that will bring about a day when there are No More Homeless Pets. The society’s leading initiatives in animal care and community programs are coordinated from its Kanab, Utah, headquarters, the country’s largest no-kill sanctuary. This work is made possible by the personal and financial support of a grassroots network of members and community partners across the nation. In 2009, Best Friends celebrates its 25th anniversary. More information at www.bestfriends.org.

About the Golden Globes:
This year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s (HFPA) 67th annual Golden Globe Awards® will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide with an estimated 14.5 million viewers and attendance by all major film and TV stars. HFPA members represent some 55 countries with a combined readership of more than 250 million. The Golden Globes is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. Today, the Golden Globes recognize achievements in 25 categories – 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television. Dick Clark Productions has produced the Golden Globes ceremony since 1983. All nominees will be invited such as Emily Blunt, Sandra Bullock, Helen Mirren, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sadibe, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Tobey Maguire, Marion Cotillard, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Daniel Day Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Michael Stuhlbarg. For more information please visit http://www.goldenglobes.org.

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For more information, photos, interviews and media credentials, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at lynn@greengalactic.com or 213-840-1201.

The Huron SubStation

For Immediate Release: December 18, 2009

New Product Line Manifest Destiny
Debuts with Unique Line of Sumptuous Candles – Beautiful Relics
that Evoke the Past
Each with Its Own Mysterious Fable – Pure Intellectual Luxury
Online Store Launch – Friday, December 18, 2009
Found at Select Pasadena Retailers Now

LOS ANGELES, CA – 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.

In future series’ of the candle line, the fates of these mysterious characters will intersect, creating an intimate virtual world rooted in history, literature and imagination. Manifest Destiny will launch its online store on December 18, 2009 and will premiere its product at the California Gift Show in January 2010.

Two southern California retailers are already selling the beautiful relics:

Goldbug
22 East Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
626-744-9963

Little Flower Candy Company
1424 W. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-304-4800

With a suggested retail price of $36.00, the candles are made from a soy-based wax with 9% fragrance oil (a high ratio) and a lead-free wick. Each candle is 12 oz. and will burn for 80 hours. Beautifully boxed, the packaging includes an 8-page pamphlet about the line and a cover page that acts as a gift card.

The four debut fragrances include “Hunter’s Reign,” “Frolic,” “Ruins,” and “Vintage Velvet”:

- Hunter’s Reign – Waiting for the Moment, the Moment is Here
Aroma: Bourbon, Moss, Leather and Pouch Tobacco

- Frolic – An Evocative Romp into Your Childhood Senses
Aroma: Grass, Bees & Wind

- Ruins – The Only Noun to Follow the Verb of War
Aroma: Cedar and Birch Smoke along with Night Blooming Jasmine

- Vintage Velvet - A Vaudevillian Act in 5 Senses
Aroma: Cognac and Amber

Meike Kopp, is the owner of the Huron SubStation, a 103-year old historic monument, situated in Cypress Park (just north of downtown Los Angeles). Kopp followed her instincts when she bought the property and established a business in what is often referred to as a kind of Wild West area of L.A. In the modern era the building is well known for being a hub of creativity; hosting film and photo shoots for the likes of German Vogue, Puma, Chrysler, and most recently, Twentieth Century Fox’s feature film Date/Night, starring Tina Fey and Steve Carrell. The film shoot has transformed Kopp’s power station into the Central Park Boat House (with boats floating on water in what was the living room). In addition, re-known sculptor, Christopher Slatoff, has his studio on the compound and collaborates with the likes of Ray Bradbury there.

Born in Germany, raised in the United States, Meike Kopp, a single mother, has always taken a pioneer approach to both business and lifestyle. The debut product from the Manifest Destiny line is another “manifestation” of that approach; breathing new life and innovation into the world of candles, provoking both the masculine and feminine sensibilities in what was largely a feminine market. While the line’s name, Manifest Destiny, can be seen in a more apparent way of Kopp manifesting her destiny, at the root of Manifest Destiny is a more prolific, almost immigrant viewpoint of the American Dream, referring to expansion into unknown territories, conjuring up visions of pioneers, reinventing their lives and the lives of those around them.

In the current environment of economic uncertainty, Meike Kopp believes that products need to have more personal value. The candle line is well thought out, of high quality and carries a layered depth of intension: the fragrances are hauntingly evocative, and the images are striking, rooted in history and have a story to go with each.

Manifest Destiny is conceived and created within the United States. A majority of the vendors and products that are involved in the line come from within the greater Los Angeles area. Manifest Destiny intends to participate in its national and local economies and commits itself to being aware of the conditions and wages of those contributing to its line of modern relics.

For more information, photos or to set up interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Photo credit Aaron Gautchi

When Lucent Dossier Experience started their new artist residency in the heart of Hollywood last month, they were presented with an unusual challenge: the h.wood space they now inhabit on Wednesday nights is a series of small, den-like chambers without a large, conventional stage. While this could have been a liability, the inventive troupe rose to the occasion by reconfiguring their show, conceptually transforming h.wood’s labyrinth of rooms into a modern day cabinet of human curiosities. Wednesdays through December 23, 2009, Lucent Dossier Experience opens h.wood’s doors every week at 8:00 p.m. with the troupe’s tantalizing performances from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, and DJs/dancing continuing until 2:00 a.m. The residency runs through December, culminating with their Orphan’s Ball on December 23rd which benefits Cuddle The World, Lucent’s charity project for disadvantaged children.For Immediate Release: December 6, 2009

Lucent Dossier Experience Transforms h.wood
Into a Modern Day Cabinet of Human Curiosities
With Performances On Wednesdays
Running Through December 23rd 2009

LOS ANGELES, CA – When Lucent Dossier Experience started their new artist residency in the heart of Hollywood last month, they were presented with an unusual challenge: the h.wood space they now inhabit on Wednesday nights is a series of small, den-like chambers without a large, conventional stage. While this could have been a liability, the inventive troupe rose to the occasion by reconfiguring their show, conceptually transforming h.wood’s labyrinth of rooms into a modern day cabinet of human curiosities. Wednesdays through December 23, 2009, Lucent Dossier Experience opens h.wood’s doors every week at 8:00 p.m. with the troupe’s tantalizing performances from 9:00 p.m. to midnight, and DJs/dancing continuing until 2:00 a.m. The residency runs through December, culminating with their Orphan’s Ball on December 23rd which benefits Cuddle The World, Lucent’s charity project for disadvantaged children. Admission to Lucent Dossier Experience is $15 on Wednesday nights. h.wood (formerly the Stork Lounge) is located at 1738 N. Orange, Los Angeles, CA 90028. Valet parking is available at the venue and self-parking is in the Hollywood + Highland Center complex (rates are $2 for 4 hours with validation, easy entrance to the parking on Orange or Highland). For information on the venue please call 323-871-2262 or visit www.thehwood.com. For more information on the event and to purchase advance tickets, please visit www.lucentdossier.com.

Historically, curiosity cabinets (aka wunderkammer or cabinets of wonder) were eclectic collections of artifacts including natural specimens, religious artifacts, art works, fantastical imaginary beings, historical relics, and other exotica. These rooms of wonder emerged in the sixteenth century and are considered the precursors to museums. They originally provided a retreat for contemplation and a view into strange new worlds with menageries of preserved fish, feathers, curious shells, stuffed reptiles, coins, coral, minerals, horns, tusks, skeletons, clocks, and a fascinating assortment of man-made objects. Often, the displays would contain a mix of fact and fiction, including mythical creatures. The Lucent Dossier Experience h.wood residency arouses a sense of awe similar to the static curiosity cabinets of yesteryear, but here the exotic specimen are in human form and operate in four dimensions (i.e., three dimensional physical space + the performative element of time.

The industrial vintage h.wood space, in the heart of Hollywood, with its two floors of dark nooks and crannies, perfectly houses Lucent Dossier Experience’s otherworldly spectacle into modern day wonder rooms. The club’s distressed leather couches, antique bookshelves, and old fashioned portraits echo the aristocratic library feel of the original wunderkammer.

Until Christmas, on Wednesday nights, Lucent Dossier Experience activates the h.wood maze of rooms into an exotic display of ethereal seductions with aerial artistry, soulful belly dancers, sleek other-worldy creatures, astral readings, decadent rose water foot baths, gypsies offering soul cleansing herbal elixirs, a post portal post office, temporary tribal tattoo parlor, and impish pranksters — all in fantastical haute couture costumes and makeup. Overhead, luminous aerial performers share the rafters with the antique chandeliers. A menagerie of exotic creatures add magic and mayhem including bizarre and alluring burlesque dancers, a bearded lady, spoken word poets, clowns, contortionists, elves, singers, jugglers, stilt walkers, and a sword swallower in a theatrical spectacle of feathers, chains, and lace.

Lucent Dossier loosely translates to a “collection of glowing light.” In the new residency, the interactive troupe provides a curious twist on the conventional, creating an experience that’s like stepping into a fractured Lewis Carroll dream. The result is a weird and wonderful funhouse where the performers activate the boho chic space, mixing with the local Hollywood flora and fauna, transforming Wednesday nights into a realm of new possibilities.

“All the different elements — the performers, the music, the space, the audience, and chance — come into play to create a very fluid, surrealistic wonderland where no two evenings are ever the same,” says Creative Director Dream Rockwell, “And we encourage guests to dress up in their finery, transform into exotic creatures, express themselves, and become part of the experience.”

A different DJ is featured each week along with live musical elements mixed in (that might including sitar, violins, drums, keyboards, guitar, vocals, or bass). On December 9th, Venice-based DJ, composer, and dance floor messiah KRADDY (founding member of the Glitch Mob) will hit the decks with a futuristic fusion of dubstep, hip hop, dance hall, and crunk all bumping together with his signature style of edits and remixes that make his sound super danceable and unique.

“The music is such an important part of the experience. We come from a very organized, and yet still underground, art and music scene. The sounds that came out of our scene 5-6 years ago are what’s being cultivated into the mainstream now,” says Rockwell, “The music makers, DJs, and producers around us are cutting edge and we are thrilled to be able to feature them. Many of them are now touring worldwide but they’re all still our friends. It’s great to have them come down and create musical magic for a night.”

DJs for December 16th and December 23rd TBD.

On December 16th, as a special treat, visual artist Jocelyn Marsh will show her work in collaboration with Lucent Dossier Experience, further enhancing that evening’s cabinet of curiosities. For ten years, Marsh has been collecting bones, insects, metal boxes, and various other interesting items — bringing them together into whimsical assemblages. She lives in Los Angeles with her cat skeleton, Whiskers. For more information on Marsh and her work, see: jocelynmarsh.com

The weekly residency will culminate with an Orphan’s Ball on December 23rd benefiting Cuddle The World. This Christmas Eve Eve-nt, a time to dance and celebrate with extended family, features a toy drive and other surprises. Guests are encouraged to bring something cuddly (new or gently used) for Lucent Dossier Experience to distribute at an orphanage this Spring when the troupe hits the road.

Cuddle the World is Lucent Dossier Experience’s non-profit organization that brings inspiration in the form of inter-active performance, musical instruments, clown noses, costumes, and fairy wings as well as sparks of love and security, in the form of teddy bears and snuggle blankets, to orphans around the globe. These children are in conditions where they receive very basic care but nothing more.

“We believe that we can help inspire these kids to think more creatively when they are dumped into the world at age 16 or 18 so that they will be able to make better choices for their lives as they are forced to fend for themselves with little or no support,” says Rockwell, “It’s the greatest project I have ever been a part of. I just love to see the little kids’ faces light up and know that what we are doing is worth every bit of time, money, and effort we have put into it.

Rockwell, in partnership with Shrine, a Pasadena-based artist, originally founded the troupe in December 2004 to nourish her love of the avant-garde in the form of dance, performance, music, and costuming. Now, five years later, the critically acclaimed Los Angeles-based tribe of inspiring artists has been featured in television commercials, print advertisements, music videos, and large-scale, live productions such as Coachella here in the US, Summer Sonic in Japan, and Electric Picnic in Ireland. Their h.wood residency follows up their hugely successful year-long run of sold-out shows at The Edison in downtown Los Angeles, which ran from April 2008 through April 2009. Also included in the group’s impressive resume is a photo spread in Italian Vogue (as captured by Steven Meisel); shows at top clubs throughout Los Angeles; and performances on MTV and at the official Grammy® Awards Party.

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For more information, photos, or to arrange interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Event Details:

Lucent Dossier Experience
- weekly artist residency -

h.wood
1738 N. Orange
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-871-2262
www.thehwood.com

8:00pm – 2:00am
- Doors: 8:00pm
- DJ & dancing all night
- Shows: 9:00pm – 12midnight

Admission $15
- Join their mailing list for discounts

- Valet parking available at the venue
- Self parking in Hollywood + Highland complex – $2 for 4 hours with validation

www.lucentdossier.com

Proceeds from all three gifts support NextAid’s work to create sustainable solutions for African children orphaned by AIDS. For more information on NextAid, please visit http://www.nextaid.org.For Immediate Release: December 1, 2009

Los Angeles Humanitarian Organization NextAid
Offers Three Green, Philanthropic Holiday Gift Giving Options
Benefitting African Children in Need

Funk Aid for Africa CD • MUD Cares Eye Shadow • “Send a Child to School”

LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles-based humanitarian organization NextAid offers three “green” holiday giving options that benefit African children in need. All three philanthropic gifts are perfect for those who want their holiday giving to mean a bit more:
1.) Funk Aid for Africa, a critically acclaimed CD mix of funky goodness released by Dubspot
2.) MUD Cares Palette of Eye Colors – earthy eye shadows by Make-Up Designory (MUD)
3.) NextAid’s “Send a Child to School” program

Proceeds from all three gifts support NextAid’s work to create sustainable solutions for African children orphaned by AIDS. For more information on NextAid, please visit http://www.nextaid.org.

Details on NextAid’s three philanthropic/green gift giving options …

Funk Aid For Africa CD:
Funk Aid for Africa is a compilation created to raise funds for African children affected by AIDS by harnessing the positive power of music. It’s a funky soul vitamin for your body, mind and spirit – seamlessly blended into a super tight and tasty collage of dubbed out dancehall, reggae, funk, and afro-beat by DJ OBaH. All those involved, from DJ OBaH to the artists (like J Boogie and The Pimps of Joytown) who wrote the tracks, and Dubspot Records who generously produced/released the CD, have donated their time, skill and compositions. All proceeds from the sale of this compilation are going towards the construction of a “green” sports facility at NextAid’s environmental community center in Dennilton, South Africa. The complex serves as a beacon of hope in a community devastated by AIDS and poverty. The CD is priced between $10 – 12 (depending on site purchased from.)
http://www.funkaid.com/ (info/buy)
http://www.dancetracksdigital.com/search/release.php?x=release_info&release_id=46108 (preview/buy)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=312426116&s=143441 (buy)
http://www.amazon.com/Funk-Aid-For-Africa/dp/B002BLA9PW (buy)

MUD Cares Palette Eye Shadow:
MUD Cares Palette ($25.00) is a quad of eye shadows developed and created by Make-Up Designory (MUD). Shades included are Spanish Gold, Cashmere, Dulce de Leche, and Moss. 100% of the proceeds go towards building homes for children in Africa who have been orphaned by AIDS. Each color is soft and finely milled with just a touch of sheen and the palette works for most skin tones and complexions. The sales of this specially-commissioned eye shadow will fund the final construction and initial operations of two children’s homes in a poverty-stricken town located 25 miles southeast of Nairobi. Each of these eco-friendly homes will provide long-term shelter, food and medical needs for 16 local orphans. The project also funds the children’s educational pursuits, from elementary school through secondary and university or trade school.
http://shop.mudshop.com/mud-cares-palette (info/buy)
http://www.mudblog.net/blog/make-up_designory_nextaid_building_a_foundation_for_a_better_tomorrow

NextAid’s “Send a Child to School” with goGogetters campaign:
A $75 donation to NextAid will assist in sending a child to school for a year. NextAid is working with a well-respected South African organization, loveLife, to be the beneficiary of NextAid’s “Send a Child to School” (aka goGogetters) campaign. goGogetters is a loveLife program that supports the many grandmothers (gogos) who have been dedicating their senior years to the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children. NextAid is raising funds for the schooling needs of some of the most vulnerable children who participate in the goGogetters program. All it takes is $75 to enable one child’s education for a year. This donation will ensure that a child is equipped with a school uniform, shoes and school supplies – all critical to a child’s education, especially as many children drop out of school due to embarrassment when they do not have these items. We all know that education is the ticket to a better future and this program presents an affordable and tangible way to make a difference.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=328589150284 (details)
http://www.nextaid.org/donation.htm (donate)

About NextAid -
NextAid’s mission is to improve the lives of youth in Africa by implementing and advancing sustainable solutions. Through music events and public education initiatives, this Los Angeles-based humanitarian organization raises awareness for and partners with community-based projects and grassroots organizations in Africa. NextAid adheres to a holistic and integrated approach in addressing the spectrum of challenges associated with establishing lasting change. http://www.nextaid.org

NextAid images from the field: http://www.nextaid.org/photogallery.htm

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For more information, photos, or to arrange interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn (at) greengalactic.com.