Thursday

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TIME Magazine's
100 Most Influential People

Artists & Entertainers

• Rush Limbaugh
• M.I.A.
• Sam and Dan Houser
• Kate Winslet
• Werner Herzog
• William Kentridge
• Penélope Cruz
• Lang Lang
• John Legend
• Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio
• Gustavo Dudamel
• Jeff Kinney
• Tavis Smiley
• The View
• Zac Efron
• Tina Fey
• Tom Hanks
• Jay Leno
• A.R. Rahman
• Judith Jamison

For the complete list, click on the image above.





WYE OAK
Silverlake Lounge



"Listening to their debut album If Children is like taking a master class in indie rock (with a large section on Yo La Tengo and the male-female duo dynamic). Unlike school, though, it's actually quite a pleasant experience." - All Music Guide





This is a cool little lineup. I've been digging what I hear from One Eskimo.

JONNEINE ZAPATA /
ONE ESKIMO
CIRCUS MINOR / MORGAN PHALEN

Jonneine Zapata || Listen || Watch

Jonneine Zapata casts herself as something of a mystery woman, and it’s not just the icy, inhabited-by-the-music glare she projects onstage. The L.A.-singer will have you believe that with little more music training than the exposure to Mom’s record collection (heavy on the Motown) and childhood sing-alongs she has arrived where she is today, fronting a quintet and holding listeners rapt with her sultry, dusky stylings.

Her arrival was announced by her debut, “Cast the Demons Out,” one of the most compelling releases to come down L.A.’s musical freeways in recent months. It simmers in places and boils in others, roiling in the same dark undercurrents explored by the likes of Johnette Napolitano and PJ Harvey. The album was quietly made and quietly self-released, and now with a crackerjack band behind her she seems ready for bigger stages. - Buzzbands LA

With:
One Eskimo || Listen
Circus Minor
Morgan Phalen (of Diamond Nights)

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

um, yeah, if you don't have tickets yet, you better know somebody!

The Pablove Foundation presents:
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
EULOGIES

Fighting childhood cancer with LOVE + FUZZ in honor of Pablo Castelaz

This Thursday, April 30, Silversun Pickups and Eulogies will perform at a very special benefit for Pablo Castelaz and The Pablove Foundation, at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale tonight, April 27, at 6:30pm for $25 via TicketWeb. Purchase will be limited to two tickets per customer and ONLY available through online purchase, with a scheduled will-call pick-up. (No walk-ups.) All proceeds will directly benefit The Pablove Foundation named after Pablo Castelaz, the five-year-old son of Dangerbird Records co-founder Jeff Castelaz and his wife Jo Ann Thrailkill.

On May 17, 2008, Pablo was diagnosed with bilateral Wilms’ Tumor, a rare form of children’s cancer, and has been receiving treatment at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

The Pablove Foundation supports cancer research and cancer patient play activities, music and arts programs. Recently, The Pablove Foundation funded a year of evening and weekend hours in the play room on the fourth floor soft tumor units at CHLA. These ‘units’ are actually an entire floor of the hospital, which is filled with brave, beautiful children at any time of the year. This play room brings immeasurable joy to the heart of a child whose life has been turned upside down in the face of a life-threatening disease and whose world has temporarily been reduced to a small hospital room.

The Pablove Foundation also plans to contribute to cancer research and treatment at CHLA, including the efforts of CHLA’s Saban Research Institute, one of the top cancer research facilities in the United States.

This extraordinary evening will offer select items for sale to help commemorate the night and give back to the above noted charities. In addition to an exclusive, limited edition t-shirt, Give. Listen. Help. Volume 5, will be available for purchase. The two-disc benefit compilation CD was released earlier this year by Filter and Urban Outfitters and features an impressive collection of unique material from some of today’s most recognizable artists including Radiohead, Bloc Party, Oasis, as well as the Dangerbird Records roster. Each CD purchase will be accompanied with a free poster, crafted specifically in honor of the evening.

We are fighting for Pablo Castelaz and kids everywhere. Join us! The Pablove Foundation: Fighting childhood cancer with LOVE.

@ Echoplex
enter at 1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $25

Xu Xu Fang || Listen || Watch

With slow waves of hushed sounds and swirling psychedelia, Xu Xu Fang’s new CD, The Mourning Son, rolls in like a fog and wraps your head in clouds. “Things are just okay,” a disembodied, world-weary voice intones amid the squalling guitars, spectral synths and formally decisive piano chords of “These Days.” It’s grand and dreamy stuff, followed by the similarly otherworldly title track, which chimes with a Velvety gloom. Band leader and producer Bobby Tamkin used to drum in the Warlocks, but Xu Xu Fang is a much more intriguing project. Unlike the Bore-locks, Xu Xu Fang are able to transform their funereal tempos into something truly mysterious and uniquely memorable. The pace picks up just a little on “Good Times,” whose shadowy groove and breathy singing belie its sunny title. - LA Weekly

With:
Downtown Union
The Voyeurs
Voices Voices

8pm / FREE







LA Weekly's review of THE BLOOD ARM from their show at the El Rey last year - Nominated for LA Weekly's Best New Artist in 2004, and playing at the first Detour festival in 2006, it's high time for The Blood Arm to make a splash and break out to the big time. Nathaniel Fregoso and Dyan Valdés may not care a whole lot about singing in tune or staying in time, but they are riveting to watch, the songs are catchy and funny, and they've got charisma by the truckload. At one point Fregoso crawled off the stage into the audience, and got a hundred people around him to sit down on the El Rey's floor so he could properly serenade pretty girls and boys with "Forever Is Strange." After that it was anyone's guess where he'd end up from song to song, climbing the scaffolding along the side of the stage, strolling through the crowd kissing girls' hands, tightrope-walking banisters and pulling a couple of audience members up to dance with him for their sleeper hit, "Suspicious Character" with the insanely catchy chorus of "I like all the girls, and all the girls like me."




EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS
RUMSPRINGA /SOKO / LUKAS HAAS
Regent Theater, Downtown L.A.



Hell yeah! So excited to see SOKO again!



Here's what I shot of her last time she was in town:



9:00 PM at The REGENT THEATER, Downtown
450 S Main St Los Angeles, CA 90013, LA, California 90013
Cost: 5 bucks!





Exclusive First Listen:
Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band's
'Outer South'



NPR.org - When Conor Oberst hit the road last year in support of his eponymous solo debut, he took with him a group of close, longtime friends he dubbed The Mystic Valley Band. The group of half a dozen musicians had helped Oberst record his country-flavored album in Tepoztlan, Mexico's Valle Mistico in early 2008. While on tour, Oberst and members of the band continued to write and share songs with one another, eager to capture the energy of their live performances. By the end of 2008, Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band had enough material for a second album, and entered a studio in Tornillo, Texas, to lay down 16 new tracks. The album they came up with, Outer South, won't be released until May 5, but you can hear it in its entirety on NPR Music as an Exclusive First Listen. CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE.











the new must see...

Anvil: The Story of Anvil






Ha! look at little joy basking in the daylight with its new tricked out blinkity blink bling!



"They say nobody walks in LA, but many people cross Sunset Blvd. at Portia everyday. This new signalized crosswalk will make it safer for them when they do," Council President Eric Garcetti said today at a news conference introducing Echo Park's new pedestrian friendly feature.





meet the charm known as WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS


Watercolor Paintings - Telephone Wires from If You Make It on Vimeo.




some more really fun kids we met a few days ago...they go by name PANGEA







DENGUE FEVER



Sleepwalking Through the Mekong follows Los Angeles based band Dengue Fever on their recent journey to Cambodia to perform 60s and 70s Cambodian rock n' roll in the country where it was created and very nearly destroyed. The odyssey is a homecoming for singer Chhom Nimol and a transformation for the rest of the band as they perform with master musicians and record new songs along the way.




yeah, as many of you know from seeing them live, they're really THAT good! check out this footage from their current tour.













COMPETITION IS NOW OPEN!
The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council is a grassroots-level advisory committee set-up by a 1999 revision to the City of Los Angeles Charter that created the Neighborhood Council system. We represent our community on issues ranging from affordable housing and sustainability to arts, land use, education, and public safety.

Our 28-member volunteer Board of Directors represents residents, business owners, public and private sector employees, the homeless, social service providers, artists, and educators across Downtown and is elected by stakeholders every two years. Past successes include ArtWalk and other community events such as Park[ing] Day LA, Project Homeless Connect, community mixers and advocacy on many community issues.

The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council logo competition is now open through May 12, 2009 and we're looking to redefine our image to reflect the qualities of Downtown and the neighborhood we so proudly represent.

How to Enter: Enter up to three submissions and help us define our organization by emailing your submission to logo@dlanc.com. If you have any questions, please email us at logo@dlanc.com All entries will be on display for public viewing at the May 14, 2009 ArtWalk! MORE INFO AFTER THE JUMP






¡¡¡ MARK YOUR CALENDARS !!!






Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Says Sunset Junction Needs an Overhaul



[...]Ultimately, the Board voted unanimously in favor of a motion stating that it will "oppose the Sunset Junction Street Festival in its current format." What this means for the future of the popular festival is still unknown... LAWeekly.com

Relocation, fee changes, cancellation? Speculate wildly!





Here's some video of Soko's last and only known L.A. performance:




Echo Park Named One of Top 10 Great Neighborhoods



And when you hear that, you might find yourself asking which Realtor came up with that ranking. Luckily, this time there is some creditability behind the designation: the American Planning Association. They "singled out Echo Park because of its breathtaking topography set in the hills above downtown, historic architecture, pedestrian-oriented streets and stairways, and engaged residents who, over the years, have gone to great lengths to protect and preserve their community," according to an APA release (add: their website has more info and history on why EP was chosen) .... more after you click on the image!


SUBMIT YOUR PICTURES!!!

THE MAE-SHI @ Spaceland



THE MOVIES @ Spaceland



DENGUE FEVER @ Viper Room