Indigenous People’s Day
Today celebrate indigenous culture and presence. Acknowledge we live on unceded lands.
I live on Chumash land here in Ventura County, near a Chumash village known as Shishilop. Thousands of Chumash lived here in this sliver of land between the hillsides and the Pacific, between two rivers, the Ventura and the Santa Clara. So much water flowed through the area that it created mudflats, even though this area is technically a desert. While a maritime community, the Chumash here were known as “mud people.” Read more…
Retail Slut Makes Over LA’s Lethal Amounts
Before Melrose Avenue was “Melrose Avenue” there was Retail Slut. Helen O’Neill founded the iconic store in 1983 featuring a little bit of everything that you could find no where else. “Behind this wild and legendary shop was a female entrepreneur who was bold enough to give her business a provocative name and live by a “take no shit” business code of ethics that has inspired other female entrepreneurs and businesses ever since,” says show organizer Lethal Amounts.
Former Slut “Slaves” with founder Helen O’Neill at Retail Slut “opening” at Lethal Amounts in LA Sat. 10/9/21; photo by Gwendolyn Alley
Long revered and missed since it closed some 20 years ago, this October, Los Angeles Gallery Lethal Amounts collaborates with Retail Slut to take over and make over the gallery dressing it up as remembered by Retail Slut’s Helen O’Neill Read more…
We Are Part of Nature– We Are Nature
You’re Connected
“We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us,” reminds Andy Goldsworthy. “So when we say we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” All across Southern California tonight a massive lightening storm near sunset reminded us of our connection to nature.
Harry
Bruce Springsteen Sings “I’ll See You in My Dreams” at September 11 Service
Bruce Springsteen performs during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at a September 11 Service to sing “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” the closing song on his 2020 album Letter to You. Hauntingly beautiful, you can watch a video below.
“May God bless our fallen brothers and sisters, their families, their friends and their loved ones,” Springsteen said in his remarks.
Springsteen’s 2002 album The Rising references those events, and his Grammy winning song of the same name honors the moment in NYC where first responders rushed up the stairs while office workers sped down. He celebrates those hardworking men and women who rise to the occasion.
MusiKaravan to the Rescue! (please vote!)
With concerts cancelled by COVID, in late summer 2020, two internationally famous violinists took to the road in their 1971 VW van which they refurbished, painted red, and named Boris.
During COVID, the MusiKaravan project “turned a challenging moment into beautiful human connections and discoveries beyond all possible boundaries like social, cultural, religious, ethnic, and beyond,” said Etienne Gara. “Music was the element to made this experience possible, and that brought so much preciousness to each interaction that was made possible through this journey.”
I met Etienne, YuEun, and Boris early on in their adventures, Read more…
On The Road in My Westfalia: 2021 Travels
Benton Hot Springs
How is your summer going? You soaking it in?
Unlike 2020, more people are going and traveling this summer…
including me, Art Predator!
I’ve been on the prowl in our 1990 Westfalia having adventures and researching Read more…
Movies and Oscars 2021: What to Watch, Trailers, Winners Too
What to watch on movie night?
My friend Ron Wells loves films and music and he enjoys writing about what he’s seen and heard. I often share his reviews here on Art Predator. But in 2020, no one went to the movies much or to see live music, and as we all know, everything was done over ZOOM or through subscription services, Read more…
#VanLife #Nomadland #Review #Oscars
#VanLife is not the romantic experience you might think from the images on Instagram you’ll find by searching for the hashtag; it’s much more like the one that France McDormand shares in her new film Nomadland. I would know because I bought my first van in the early 90s and lived in it on and off for seven years, including multiple trips to the Black Rock Desert for Burning Man, driving past Empire, Nevada, where the protagonist in Nomadland lives before she hits the road. I’ve enjoyed life with two more vw vans since then, but rarely living in them longer than a few weeks at a time. I have more to say about the experience, but for now, since tonight is Oscar night and the film is up for several, here’s a review of Nomadland by Ron Wells, below.
Nomadland is a “road” movie about a woman’s spiritual quest. What exactly she is trying to find is layered beneath such things as various campgrounds, people met on the road and people who have gone, all types of rocks, and even images of dinosaurs. Fern, played by Frances McDormand, travels alone in her van, aptly named “Vanguard,” meets many “nomads” like herself, and visits place after place searching for that which may be undefinable. Read more…
Ooh, see that girl
Watch that scene
Digging the dancing queen…
Looking out for a place to go
Where they play the right music
Getting in the swing
You come to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Daughters of Dada To Celebrate Beato, Women’s History Month, #IWD with #TargetDressChallenge Dancing Queens
Michelle Obama:
“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish,” says Michelle Obama.
And today, International Women’s Day during Women’s History Month, is a great day to recognize those accomplishments of women AND to move forward without limits to what we will do next!
Who’s up for a VIRTUAL #TargetDressChallenge and Dancing Queens Challenge!
Listen to me read this blog post as a PODCAST via Anchor on Spotify.
art predator 