Sunday, January 22, 2006

That's Not For Sale

Final Parking Lot Sale @ Rhino Records January 21 & 22nd, 10am – 4pm

Few people enjoy the smell of aged cat piss and general neglect like a good vinyl junkie. In their heart of hearts they know that in some Grandma’s basement lies a treasure trove of Butcher covers and lost reel-to-reels waiting to be sold for five bucks to a greedy, over-educated music fan with an unapologetically huge grin. Expect those geeks to be out in full-force on the Westside this Saturday in anticipation of Rhino’s last hurrah. After 35 years of business, much like every other record store not operating out of a barn on Sunset, they are shutting their doors. For years Rhino had one of the best parking lot sales ever. Not just forty ELO records or half of “Frampton Comes Alive” but shit you can listen to: the first Velvet Underground, “Beggars Banquet”, and “Let’s Get Small” were all a dollar each. Not a single scratch! Come on out for the vinyl blow-out of all blow-outs. The Rhino has finally been slain. Maybe they’ll mount the horn in Amoeba. (SOC)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Old Yellow.

Yellow @ Powerhouse Theater
Friday, December 13

It’s a new year, a new cat calendar and if Mark Farina is going to maintain his spot as the pick for best visual artist for 2006 he’s going to have to earn it. Less than two weeks into this winter Olympics year (Go Austrian skeleton team!), Mr. Farina is bringing the goods. Although known as a creator of more inanimate visual arts (paintings that straddle the definition of pop art and street art, head-scratching sculptures of manipulated flea market friends) on Friday the 13th, Farina will be presenting the US premiere of his short film “Yellow” described by the man of the hour as “an homage to the 1970s atmospheric, thrill kill films”, an Italian export as essential as gelato and pencil moustaches. Though shot in Los Angeles the film was given its world premiere in Milan at Gio Marconi gallery late last year in the kind of artist-spoiling setting that really makes the case for ex-patriation. If I didn’t store all my shit here I’d have left long ago. (SOC)
3316 2nd St. Santa Monica @ 7'30. www.powerhousetheater.com

Talk to Him

Gary Panter/Jonathan Lethem @ Hammer Museum
Wednesday, January 11

What could be better than a staged conversation in a museum? Probably a real one with a few hundred less people and all the idiot-assholes filtered out by weak bladders and conference calls. This is not likely to happen and like most things we should accept what we can get and complain to people with no ability to fix the problem. As part of the ongoing ‘comics as art’ extravaganza in town, Gary Panter (whose clever work with Charles Burns is on display at MOCA) and Jonathan Lethem (whose literary work is on display at, uh, Barnes and Noble) will be forced to converse in front of a crowd of comic obsessives in a museum built to resemble an office building. Spend an evening listening to the guy who furnished Pee Wee’s Playhouse talking to Brooklyn’s own Superman-referencing nerd. With new tape on your glasses and the station wagon out on loan there is no doubt that this evening will be the best pickup scene for literate, modern comic-loving, museum-dwelling shut-ins. I’ll be the one wearing a corsage. (SOC)