Curiouser and Curiouser: Burning Man 2024
The first time I went to Burning Man I remember driving in the pitch dark night for hours from my home in Reno out into the Great Basin desert. No cars on the road just the occasional owl, cow, coyote. The evening was warm and at one point I pulled over to pee on the side of the road and pick some sage in bloom which I put on the dash of my Toyota truck. I followed the directions and pulled off the highway onto the Black Rock Desert which was periodically punctuated by flag poles. I followed the dirt track on the empty dry lake bed feeling like I was floating in a sea of black until I saw in the distance a neon green blur. Read more…
On Independence Day 2024
MB Hanrahan
Curiouser and Curiouser: Burning Man 2024 theme
Back from three weeks in Italy on a wine press trip for Wine Predator (more on that soon!), this Art Predator sees that summer is certainly heating up with lots of fun activities on the horizon here to help get over missing Europe! Standout events coming full blast this June are The Batette Follies of 1939 in LA running from June 6 through July 14, 2024, the Live Oak Music Festival in San Luis Obispo over Father’s Day Weekend June 14-16, Garagiste Wine Festival in LA June 22, Lucidity Festival June 26-30 and on the same weekend, the X Games returning to my hometown of Ventura, plus free music all over, Dead and Co are still at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and then looking toward August, Burning Man in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert about two hours northeast of Reno. Here’s a bit about a few of Art Predator’s June highlights and art I’m looking forward to at Burning Man with more details and reports to follow!
The Batette Follies of 1939
June 6-July 14, 2024
The Batette Follies of 1939: A Dark Night Parody, Montalbán Theatre, Hollywood, CA Read more…
Earth Day 2024: consume with care
Antonella Manuli practices regenerative organic farming
“Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature,” pointed out Rachel Carson, author of the 1962 ground breaking book Silent Spring. “But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself? [We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves.”
Earth Day began in 1970 as a teach-in to understand how we are altering and destroying nature– and we are still learning how to live more lightly on our planet. Read more…
Bruce Springsteen tour 2024
A LITTLE CAFE by Ron Wells
There’s a little cafe. Down San Diego way. That cafe plays music all night, and all day. That cafe holds big ideas and small ideas, big dreams and small. That cafe holds human beings drinking and singing, and carrying their burdens into it with them.
Bruce Springsteen has been there. He remembers it vividly.
Wine Predator Gwendolyn Alley with Antonella Manuli in Tuscany, Italy
Big news, friends and fans of Art Predator! I’m super to excited to announce that I’m nominated for one of this year’s Wine Travel Awards, and I need YOUR VOTE by March 31! The popular vote by people like YOU narrow the nominations to FIVE FINALISTS which go to the judges who will decide on the final selection. Right now I’m in a four way tie for fifth place, but if just some of my subscribers like YOU would vote for me, I’d be a finalist for sure! It is super easy to vote– just click this link, Then click on the VOTE button and I will be so grateful!
So why should you vote for me and what are the Wine Travel Awards?
Oscars 2024
“Here’s my yearly list,” says Ron Wells of the films he’s watched in the past year just in time for the Oscars tonight; find all the nominees here. “I thought it was a pretty good year with something worth watching in almost all of the films listed below (key words: almost all).” Continue reading for Ron’s Favorite Films of 2023 in order with his favorite first and working done the list with his comments, links to his reviews, a few trailers, and my thoughts in italics. Read more…
Perfect Days
Perfect Days film review by Ron Wells
In Perfect Days, Director Wim Wenders has made a beautiful, specialized film that will only be appreciated by some audience members. The film follows a man, Hirayama (the brilliant Koji Yakusho) who daily goes to his job which entails driving around Tokyo and cleaning public restrooms and toilets; a job he does extremely well, and seemingly takes great pride in. Check out the trailer below: Read more…
What’s Up This Weekend? 12/1/23 Art Predator Performs and more free fun!
12/1/23 5 x 5 x 5
Now that my 12 week late start hybrid class is over (save for getting in grades!), I’ve got my head above water a bit and I can see there’s lots going on in the 805 this weekend, so for my Ventura County, Ventura College, and LA and SB readers, I wanted to offer a quick round up! And yes I am performing at 5 x 5 x 5 on Friday 12/1/23 at Art City!
Does Practice Make Perfect or Permanent? On Making New Mental Pathways
We hear how “practice makes permanent” but I attended a seminar for teachers about the brain, and two ideas stood out:
- Does it matter WHEN you learn or THAT you learn?
- Practice makes permanent.
The brain works in such a way that if we do something over and over, it gets deep into our brains. Read more…
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