REMEMBER RADIO?


If you're at all like me, when you're in the mood to listen to music, radio is one of the least likely places you turn. There was a time (1983 till around 2000) when the radio was the primary source of my exposure to new music. When I moved to LA in 1999, I flipped around the FM dial stopping whenever I heard something I liked. Before the introduction of Shazam, I had to rely on memorizing snippets of lyrics and then looking them up since it seemed like DJs rarely announced what they were playing. That’s how I discovered B.G., Los Dandys, Duncan Dhu, Enanitos Verdes, Los Freddys, Juvenile, Lil' Wayne, Mikel Erentxun, Mystikal, Los Prisioneros (among others).

Dating a Vietnamese New Waver, Napster, and Pandora all provided new avenues of exposure and I pretty much gave up on FM radio except for usually music-less public radio. When I've been subjected to FM radio in the past few years, the playlists seem to have somehow been whittled down to approximately four incredibly overplayed "classics" that serve as bumpers between hour-long blocks of commercials -- or pop music meant to make 12-year-old girls feel like 16-year-old princesses (and anyone else nauseated).

In a recent poll of Americans conducted by Public Policy Polling, only 33% of respondents said that they view Los Angeles favorably whereas 40% view it negatively. 27% stated that they’re not sure. Of America’s largest five cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia), LA is the only one with a higher negative response than positive. As someone who lives in and loves Southern California, this disappoints but doesn’t surprise me.

  

Growing up in other parts of the country, pop culture sculpted and skewed my perception of the Southland more than anything else. Living here I consider it to be the most misrepresented too. I’ve never been to Philadelphia but my experiences in other large American cities haven’t produced the same sort of glaring dissonance between my expectations and experience that LA has. And with LA the center of America’s pop culture machine, I have to wonder why the city doesn’t do a better job of showcasing its positive attributes instead of its negative – mainly conspicuous consumption, movie stardom and gang culture.

The lineup for the next Sunset Strip Music Festival in Hollywood was announced this week. Marilyn Manson headlines with The Offspring, Bad Religion, Steve Aoki, De La Soul, Far East Movement, Black Label Society, Dead Sara, Das Racist, and The Mowgli's also performing.

Taking place August 16-18, the festival begins with a VIP event honoring The Doors. Details TBA but they're saying an-all star band will pay tribute to The Doors, and other bands playing the festival will cover Doors songs as well.

Saturday, August 18 is the main day for the festival, with Sunset Blvd closing down between Doheny and San Vicente. There will be two outdoor stages, beer gardens, autograph tent, VIP lounge, food trucks, and more music at participating iconic Sunset Strip venues - The Roxy, Whisky A Go Go, and Key Club. Those three venues, plus House of Blues and The Viper Room will have various shows on Thursday and Friday as well.

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Um... eek.

This weekend, Los Angeles celebrates its main Gay Pride festival and I plan on being there. This may not seem like a stunning “news flash” to many of you, dear readers, but those who know me well know that I have a phobia of parades and balloons, I will not wait anything over 10 minutes for a table at any restaurant no matter how piquant their comestibles, nor will I eat standing up (and certainly not in a crowd!) and I’m allergic to most forms of fun – all of these are features of such events (or so I'm told).

But here’s another fact about me: I’ve never participated in any Pride activities in any city, any year, ever – and that strikes me as, well… queer. So this is the year I’m remedy it. I'm coming out! (...of my safe and cozy home.)

I need to go buy bottles of water and sun-block with an SPF of pi, but before I do, I wanted to get some mood music from our rich, LGBT heritage (see below). Beats make me braver!

And if you plan on coming to LA’s Pride, look for me. I’ll undoubtedly be cowering in some dark corner, terrified of everything, but doing it with a rad attitude.

This first-ever Sunset & Dine event on June 7th will be a community celebration of the amazing food, art, and businesses located in the Sunset & Vine Business Improvement District in Hollywood.

Held at Academy Hollywood, the brand new outdoor movie amphitheater at AMPAS's (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) Pickford Center (Vine & Delongpre), the $20 admission gets you access to beer and wine, food from local restaurants, and an art exhibition of pole banner designs created by students at Helen Bernstein High School (HBHS). The top four winning designs will be turned into actual street pole banners to be installed throughout Hollywood. All proceeds from the event will benefit the HBHS art department.

The new Oscars Outdoors venue.

Running from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. we encourage everyone to come out and support this new spot in the heart of Hollywood. Stop by the Amoeba booth and say hello!

Academy Hollywood
6322 Delongpre Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028

Thursday, June 7, 2012 - 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Starting June 15th, AMPAS is holding Oscars Outdoors, film screenings Friday and Saturday nights through August 18th at the new outdoor amphitheater in Hollywood. They'll kick off the series with Casablanca (1942) on June 15th. Gates at 6pm, screenings begin at sunset. $5 general admission, $3 for Academy members and students.