Phil Alvin is back from the dead. Literally.
After 30 years, he and his brother Dave have decided to find some “common ground,” and make music together again. And the music world is all the better for it.
For those who might not have heard, Phil was on tour in Spain a few years ago when he suddenly had to be taken to a hospital where he underwent treatment for an abscessed tooth which caused his throat to swell and almost close. His heart stopped and he flatlined twice. Only through the work of Dr. Mariella Anaya-Sifuentes—who is thanked in the liner notes to the new album—was his life saved.
As I wrote about yesterday here and at Wine Predator here, as the weather shifts from spring to summer, festival season seriously kicks in–music, food, wine, beer, name it–there’s a festival near you celebrating it!
In Ventura, Music Week 2014 is in full swing with acts performing all over town since Thursday’s kickoff with a full schedule of acts this past weekend and plenty to come.
Here are a few highlights:
Tomorrow Monday June 9 at 7pm, the Ventura Film Society along with Ventura Music Week hosts 20 Feet from Stardom at the Century Downtown (555 E. Main, 93001) with an after party across the street at Amigos.
Read the rest of Ron Wells’ review of the 2014 Academy Award Winning Best Feature Documentary here. Tickets are $10.
Since Dave and Phil Alvin of the Blasters are playing Friday from 9-10:30pm at Live Oak Music Festival this coming weekend, I figured it was about time to post this review by Ron Wells of a recent Blasters concert in Santa Ana, CA. More info on Live Oak follows the review.
The music business is a cruel mistress.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, so many great bands were playing every night in every kind of club imaginable in LA. Social Distortion, X, Los Lobos, Black Flag just to name a few, and, of course, The Blasters.
And yet the big record contract went to The Knack with “My Sharona.” That band is long gone and easily forgotten, but the others are still standing in one configuration or another.
ents should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication.Proponents often see net neutrality as an important component of an open internet, where policies such as equal treatment of data and open web standards allow those on the internet to easily communicate and conduct business without interference from a third party.[5]
#ThatDamNation Floods 23 @Patagonia Stores TODAY
DamNation floods 23 Patagonia Retail Stores across the country today, Thursday, June 5th, 2014; #ThatDamNation photo contest ends June 7.
A ragingly powerful and award-winning documentary film, Damnation explores our dam culture and examines the change in “attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers.” The #ThatDamNation contest invites YOU to contribute to the conversation with photos of your own (scroll down for details).
“DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature,”states the DamNation website.
WHAT IS A THEME CAMP?
One of the highlights of Burning Man for many including me is the Temple.Visiting the Temple has always been an important part of my Burning Man experience. First erected by David Best in 2000 and for many subsequent years, it lies just beyond the Man and is burned the final night, Sunday before Labor Day, generally at sunset.
In 2002, Marsh and I spoke with David Best and expressed our appreciation for his work. In 2005, one of the best moments of that Burn was watching the Temple at sunset with my three year old son, husband, and nephew.
Pictured behind this portrait of my family is the Temple of Transition from 2011 built in Reno, Nevada by Chris “Kiwi” Hankins, Diarmaid “Irish” Horkan and Ian “Beave.” Even in this image you can tell it is a HUGE structure: a 120-foot tiered, hexagonal central tower, surrounded by five 58-foot tiered, hexagonal towers. Read other posts about previous Temples here for 2011 and here for 2010 and here for 2009.
This year’s Temple, The Temple of Grace, is, once again, the creation of David Best from Petaluma CA.
The building of the Temple, like the Man and a few other large scale projects on the Playa, is funded in part by ticket sales.
Believe it or not, most of the art you see at Burning Man (or in a Burning Man video like Home or this one of “The Place’s You’ll Go” by Dr Seuss) is NOT funded via ticket sales but by the individuals and the camps that created it.
These days, crowd sourcing social media campaigns such as Kickstarter play important roles. This year, the Black Rock Arts Foundation is providing fiscal sponsorship as a pilot project to help Burning Man artists raise necessary funds for their art by enabling tax-deductible contributions to their projects (see the link below the Temple description).
Temple of Grace by David Best
” is intended to be a spiritual and sacred space for memorials, reflection, celebration, and to commemorate life transitions. It is the latest in a long line of temples going back to 2000, which started the tradition of the temple built as a spiritual center for this art festival. It is a special work of art given to the community, and is a spiritual refuge where thousands gather, each to engage with it in his or her own way. The community comes to write their memorials and place tokens of their transitions, and it is burned at the end of the festival in a tradition of releasing them by the immolation of the temple.”
At 70+’ high and with a footprint of 80’x80′, the Temple of Grace will sit in a courtyard approximately 150’x150′. The central interior dome nestles within a graceful curved body made of wood and steel with intricately cut wooden panels for the exterior and interior skin; eight altars surround the temple inside a low-walled courtyard to create a large exterior grounds for the community.
Among many notable projects is “The Otic Way” by Gregg Fleishman, Melissa Barron, and Lightning Clearwater III of Oakland, CA which has at its center a large shaded pyramid structure for group assemblies, with a module outpost at the apex, and geometric-patterned shade repurposed from the 2013 Temple of Whollyness. Described as continuation of the Otic Oasis waystations from 2011 and 2012 which were the first art installations in the walkin camping area, The Otic Way satellites and shade provide space for contemplation, play, shelter, tranquility, shade, and comfort for appreciation of our natural surroundings. A wilderness outpost reachable by foot or bike and fluent in the language of geometry, 8 honeycomb stand-alone 8’x8’x14’ “Satellites” spread along an arc, are each private yet connected, and all assembled without the use of nails, glue or metal fasteners, providing private spaces in the desert stillness or gathering spots to view the panorama.- (In)Visible
- Agora of Light
- Alien Siege Machine
- Bathroom Beacons: The Toilet Bowl
- Bathroom Beacons: Welcome to Fabulous
- Between Dimensions
- Big Al
- Bike Bridge
- BioTronEsis
- Celestial Mechanica
- Cosmic Praise
- CrossReads
- Crossroads of Curiosity
- Cucumber Stand
- Dragon Smelter / Coin Ops
- Dreambox 3.0
- Eidolon Panspermia Ostentatia Duodenum (epod)
- Embrace
- Enlace
- Eternal Return
- Fledgling
- Flying Mantis
- Genie Bottle
- Getting Your Bearings
- Hayam Sun Temple
- Human Maze Balloon Web
- Infinite Infant and the Trail of Toys
- Last Outpost
- Library of Babel
- Lost Nomads of Vulcania
- Lost Tea Party, The
- lumenEssence
- Luz 2.0
- MerKHANa Uncertainty Reduction Salon
- Merope II and Angel of the Apocalypse Feathers
- MICRO
- Minaret
- Musical Swings
- Otic Way
- Parasolvent
- Pavilion of Ceremonial Dissolution
- Playastan Crossroads
- Pulse and Bloom
- R’eyh
- Return of the Racken!
- Ripple
- Silicone Meadow
- Silk Road Art Project, The
- Spiral of Doubt
- Squared
- Super Pool
- Temple of Grace
- Tree of (Im)Permanence
- Warp Detour
- Wheel of Fortune
- Wheel of Life, The
- Wheels of Zoroaster
- Wind Horse House
- Wind Sound Sanctuary
- Zymphonic Wormhole
Tonight in Ventura there are TWO competing bike month events to celebrate the end of CycloMAYnia and this year’s Bike Month: one event is at the Ventura County Museum and the other is at the Hong Kong Inn.
First, starting at 
6pm is DINNER and a MOVIE! It’s a Bicycle Short Film Fest at Bike Love Art Show Friday 7:00 p.m. at the Museum of Ventura County with films from Mexico, Florida, Cuba and Southern California. The cost is $7 for the general public and $5 for students and members. Read more…
Tribute to Dr. Maya Anglelou
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
–Maya Angelou
Just last month I posted about Maya Angelou, connecting her words from one of our Earth Day Posters about artists with transformational festivals like Burning Man and Lucidity:
“When members of a society wish to secure that society’s rich heritage, they cherish their arts and respect their artists. The esteem with which we regard the multiple cultures offered in our country enhances our possibilities for healthy survival and continued social development.” (Read it here). Read more…
The Best Bike to Work Week Bike for Wine Lovers!
Will you ride your bike to work this week? I did–today to conferences with students! But not this bike!
Since
May is Bike to Work Month, the second week of May is Bike to Work Week, and Friday May 16 is Bike to Work Day,
this bike would be the perfect one for wine bloggers and wine lovers!
Just think about it! Maybe you need to do a little wine blogging or tweeting right after work? Or maybe you’re doing #winechat this Wednesday May 14 from 6-7pm with Napa Valley’s Cairdean Estate?
Just pack up your glasses and your wine and you’ll be set!
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art predator 