Last night I caught Thao Nguyen at the last stop of the Hotel Cafe tour. I hadn't talked to the singer since I interviewed her way back in GR44. Back then, she was playing an acoustic gig for maybe two dozen people at Safari Sam's. Last evening, she was playing a sold-out Music Box and I got to catch up with her for a few minutes behind the venue where the tour bus was parked.
When you meet Thao, she seems like such a regular, friendly person--albeit one with a cool drawl. But onstage with the guitar, she has total star power. When amplified, her voice is a real force of nature and this time she was rocking an electric guitar--maybe she needed that to match her singing.
The format of the show was really interesting. The backing band of dudes came and went in various configurations as they were needed, but the spotlight changed from singer to singer. In addition to Thao, there was Meiko, Rachel Yamagata, Emily Wells, and a bunch of others--all female. Thao had them come out to sing and dance with her, which was cool. There was a genuine "let's put on a show" vibe to the evening.
I'd suggest you check out the tour, but it's over. Instead, click on this video of Thao with her regular band, The Get Down Stay Down ...
You probably can't beat Willy Santos at S-K-A-T-E, but here's a chance to beat him up at Street Fighter. It all goes down at Willy's Workshop in San Diego tomorrow (Sunday) at 5:00...
The new Danny Boyle movie opens in select U.S. theaters today. In keeping with his previously unpredictable body of work, the British filmmaker enters totally different turf and subject matter; this one's a dark fairy tale of a love story set in the slums, crime world, and call centers of Mumbai. The movie has all of the inventive camera angles and edits, eye-popping color, cool music, and fecal matter that you'd expect from the guy behind 28 Days Later, Trainspotting, and Sunshine.
Last week, I interviewed two of the movie's stars--Dev Patel from England's Skins TV series and India-based model and travel show host Freida Pinto. The article won't come out until early next month, but I'll share a snippet of our conversation as a teaser.
GR: Dev, what was more daunting--filming in India or working with a supermodel? DP: Everything. Being out in the middle of Mumbai with Danny Boyle was daunting enough. So was doing scenes with Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan, some of them in a packed studio with a big audience, and then dancing with Freida.
GR: Could the locals sense you weren’t from around there? DP: I asked Danny if I could come out a week early, and would walk the street for hours. No matter what clothes I wore, when I walked down the street I gave off that aura. I found it’s the pace of things, really. Mumbai moves fast, but everyone takes their time and relaxes.
GR: Freida, did you have to give him any tips? FP: Maybe when he spit his gum on the street; that was not allowed. He also got conned when he went shopping. He spent 250 bucks for a scarf that cost 80 rupees. But within a week or two, he pretty much got it.
GR: Dev, you were the only actor who was not local. DP: Jamal was calmness within the storm, and only became angry during certain parts. He was softly spoken, and I knew I could bring that to him.
GR: Because he was so calm, his accent could be different. DP: My accent was bad!
FP: I don’t think it was bad. In Mumbai people speak different accents anyway. Plus, he had the call-center training.
Go see Slumdog Millionairenow and look for GR57 after Thanksgiving.
Got a box of goodies from DVS today. The shoe company that sponsors friends of GR Daewon Song and Jimmy Cao does a ton of collaborations. There was the Photographers Series and then there was the Original Intent Series that was inspired by various skate dive bars. I never saw the latter--maybe because I have the straight edge--but I do wear sunglasses when I drive, so this latest team-up works for me.
The box is gigantic but doesn't hold clown shoes. It's got extra goodies including a shoe bag, stencil, and glasses. More on that later...
The Luxe series of footwear by DVS is all about subtlety. Instead of screaming tech or showing off colorways, the shoes have simple designs, nice details, and premium materials--all the while remaining durable and skateable.
The flashiest part of this particular Standard-Lo can't even be seen when you're wearing them--a Modernist patterned insole.
The sole was taped up like it just had a nose job. Nope. It hides an interesting speckled material that's gummy, functional, and cool for the first few kicks.
The Wayfarers share the same vibe as the shoes. The front looks classic and simple, but the details reveal nice, designy elements--in this case a marbly wood pattern.
This is a nice collection of stuff for a grown-up skater who likes to shred but doesn't want to dress like a 13 year old. Too bad they sent me the wrong size shoes (Memo to Torrance: I'm size 9 not 11) but I think my brother-in-law Carlos will dig the package. He's a sharper dresser and better skater than me, anyway.
Went back to the renovation site this morning and saw that framing going up. This is the view from the old part of the house looking into the new part--living room and kitchen.
That horizontal slot is the new kitchen window. The tall wall in front of it shows how high the ceiling will be in the living room.
Below, a side view of the cantilevered stairs. These are pretty hot.
Tonight we attended a rally in protest of Proposition 8, which narrowly passed on Tuesday. The proposition strips the right of marriage from same-sex couples and the event took place just a half-block from our temporary home in Silver Lake.
The obvious reaction to the proposition is, why would anyone not want people in love to be able to get married? Even if you're a super straight homophobe, why would you prevent male or female couples from getting married? What does it have to do with you?
But human nature isn't like that. A lot of people are insecure, and unable to handle any way of life that isn't like theirs. They can be just plain ignorant or hateful, too. That is what most of the pro-8 advertising played up: suggesting that legalized gay marriage somehow promotes gayness in children. But if gay marriage is outlawed, will the couples suddenly turn straight?
A lot of the signage placed blame on the Mormon church's involvement in the pro-8 campaign. I can see where the anger comes from, but preferred the signs that were clever to finger-pointing. (And while we're on the subject of blame: Hey, San Francisco hipsters: what's up with a 50 percent voting rate when most cities turned out in record-breaking numbers?)
The gathering of more than 12,000 started off as a rally at Sunset Junction--one with speeches that were impossible to hear--but became a march when the crowd started moving west on Santa Monica. Although it wasn't a permitted parade, the cops treated it as such and blocked off traffic accordingly. Surprising and impressive.
The crowd moved north on Vermont and stopped at Sunset where the more boisterous protesters wanted to turn west toward Hollywood. The police helicopters told the marchers to go east, back to where the march began. I'm not sure what happened after this because Eloise was starting to fade, so we headed back with what seemed to be the majority of protesters. Even though Eloise was wearing noise-reducing headphones to mellow out the bullhorns, whistles, and chants, she was up way past her bedtime.
But we were glad to support the cause and proud to march alongside some of our friends who are targeted by the proposition for as long as we could.
Since the proposition already passed, I'm not sure what these protests will actually accomplish. Will the government design to veto it? No. It'll probably take a lawsuit to prove it unconstitutional.
Yet it is healthy to voice discontent and even better when it unfolds peacefully. The march ended without major incidents, but the struggle is not over by a long shot.
The ex-Bruin and current Clipper has ditched Reebok in favor of the Chinese gear company, Li Ning. Actually, it's not that big of a deal since most shoes by Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. are made in China anyway, and Li Ning is a big player that was all over the Beijing Olympics. I just hope his shoe looks good when it comes out next year.
You might have your fill of our Ball State trip, but here are some pics since I couldn't post any with the iPod Touch. This is the main drag, all two blocks of it. On 7:30 on a Wednesday night, it was a ghost town. When we sat down to eat, we looked up at the TVs to realize the the school's undefeated football team was playing a Wednesday night prime-time game on ESPN.
The building where we stayed (3rd floor hotel), gave our talk (Forum room on the 2nd floor) also had a bowling alley (lower level). So we bowled the night we arrived as well as the afternoon before the talk, and after the talk with our pal Tim who drove down from Chicago and some of our new friends. All that pin action showed that I'm good for no more than three games in 24 hours. That's when I peaked at 130, and proceeded to go under the Mendoza Line (100) from then on.
The art department eatery was a lot like a mall food court. The on-campus Barnes & Noble offered food as well.
Eric's laptop bit the dust, so we had to bring an old one out of retirement. As a result, it took some retooling to get the video parts of the presentation to work. These clips are a relatively new part of GR talks, and they definitely make a difference.
After a lot of wandering and little wondering, we finally found the Asians on campus. No, not at the museum (above) but at the AASU meeting (below). We got to sit in on their leadership council discussion which, despite rumors, was not a "clusterfuck." I thought it was cool how their membership is very Pan Asian--and then some.
The AASA members were cool, and the audience was quite receptive, asked good questions, and stuck around afterward for bowling and more food. It turned out a few of them are linked to the school's magazine program, and I was glad they seemed to approve of what we're doing with GR.
We left the campus at 7:00 am to catch our flight from the airport in Indianapolis. Apparently, it's going to be shut down in less than a week in favor of a brand new one right next door. I hope it has the same Jughead-inspired architecture.
The way back provided time for a little sleep and a head start in music reviews for the next issue.
It's deadline time once more, meaning long hours are in the forecast, but doing talks like this definitely helps me get by. Not only because it's an honor to be asked to travel and blab about what we do to strangers (who become friends) but also because the process reminds me just how unique, interesting, and hopefully important it is. Most students would kill to do something like we do when they graduate! Too bad we're not hiring; we're having too much fun to delegate.
