Eyeball belchers

Fellow indie publishers Alex and Ann of Eyeball Burp fame. The South Bay doodlers and bloggers have great taste in everything from comics (Hellen Jo) to food (donuts) to people (us here at GR).

Michael Nhat at the Echo Curio

Finally went to the Echo Curio, which is right down the street from The Echo. Are they related? I don't think so. It definitely feels more like a clubhouse than a club. Last night was Underground Hip-Hop Night with my man Michael Nhat going on at 10:30. Yes, the crowd was as sweaty and into his half-hour set as he was. Nothing but hits (or should-be hits) with plenty off his excellent debut album.


The venue is as intimate as can be (no stage, standing-room only, BYOB, sound depends on the performers' gear) and it was cool that although the suggested donation at the door was 5 bucks, they let me in for the contents of my pockets (maybe $2.75). Man, I wish I caught DJ Jester last month or Rose Melberg last year at the spot because it's about five minutes from home. Check it out here.

Meet Michael Nhat (not Naht)

I met up with Michael Nhat last night. I'm no rap expert, but I find his songs to have uncommonly interesting content and I appreciate how his nonstop delivery is not shouted like a boast or threat. He's a cool and thoughtful dude. There's actually documentary being made about the Vietnam-born, Iowa-raised, and L.A.-based rapper, musician, and collaborator, and the crew is real cool, too.


Angelenos can catch him at the Echo Curio on Thursday or the Tribal Cafe on Monday, and everyone else can check out the video off his new-ish, self-titled album, below.



He was also on KXLU's Demolisten!

Patchwork, Minimum, Maximum

Went to the Patchwork group show at GR2 on Saturday night. Almost immediately, we ran into contributing artist Philip Lumbang. The painter of bears just ended a sold-out solo stint at GRSF and is about to do the same at GR2... But first things first. Patchwork featured familiar artists (Lumbang, Ghahremani, Reyes) as well as new blood that attracted a standing-room-only crowd (not that we have chairs, below).


Michelle was the architect of the show consisting of works on square-shaped fabric. She was inspired by the Praxis quilt made by her friends Jenny and Diana in honor of the late, great canine. I don't know how many times Michelle explained the wall hanging throughout the evening.


Below, Wendy and Eloise admire the Lowly Worm-inspired pieces. Who made them?


The Double Date Collective of Jeaux Janovsky and Cristina Paulos. But who were they on a double date with?


Former GR proofreader, current GR artist: Louise Chen.


Say hi to newest addition to the GR crew, James.



Eloise vs. To-Fu Robots.


More pics and links to the artwork will be posted soon at gr2.net by our web dude, Brandon.


On Sunday afternoon I was invited by my friend Gina Osterloh, whose incredible conceptual photography was featured in GR59, to see Minimum Yields Maximum, a humble yet ambitious group show at Monte Vista Projects featuring artists from the Philippines, Vietnam, and the U.S. The group show that she curated is in large part inspired by her mentor, friend, and Philippines art giant Roberto Chabet.


Gina spent a year in Manila on the Fulbright's dime and met many of the featured artists there. In the background, you can see "Two Rings" by Gary-Ross Pastrana, a set of photos that show jewelry that was melted into a sword, which he used to cut himself, and then melted back into rings again. Conceptual, painful, personal.



Two pieces by our mutual friend (and friend of GR) Louie Cordero, who seems to be shifting from the pantheon of metal to the Indian iconography. I love seeing his eye-popping colors and precise brushwork in person. He has a big show coming up in New York City, and these pieces are being sent there.


Reanne Estrad's "One Thousand, One Hundred Eight" is carefully placed strands of hair on bars of soap. Mounted in a box under glass on a pillar, the effect is beautiful and disturbing.


Hong-An Truong's video piece "Explosions in the Sky (Dien Bien Phu 1954)" juxtaposes not only pop music and war footage but classic rock and karaoke for an extra twist. Watch for just a few minutes and you'll see.



There's more and you can check it out for another week. If you're lucky, you'll see my friend Shizu Saldamando. I discovered that she's part of the Mt. Washington-based collective, too. Last time I saw here was a My Bloody Valentine concert. One of the many things I like about Shizu is that not only does she have artistic skill beyond her years but her taste in music is that way, too. She was under the weather with the Ebola virus but I took her picture anyway! So cool and talented...

Quasi at Spaceland

Quasi has always been a great live band, but on Friday at Spaceland they were unusually ripping and especially amazing. Maybe it was the rocking new material off the Portland, OR group's latest and hardest album yet, American Gong, which tilts the balance from principal singer Sam (Heatmiser, with Eliott Smith) on keyboard to Sam on guitar. As always, Janet (of Sleater-Kinney fame) is steady and heavy behind the drumkit with cool backing vocals. New to the crew is Joanna (from Stephen Malkmus's Jicks) on bass, who went beyond merely providing rhythm and did some crazy knob tweaking during the jam outs.


The band has always been masterful at playing perfect pop, lyric-based songs that are impossibly verbose yet catchy and bordering on becoming monologues without crossing into theatrics. Imagine the ornate melodies of Wings tempered by the workmanship of Built To Spill. The new album is the straightest rock yet, with at least one tip to rockabilly and sometimes even classic rock with huge, fun riffs. But the band hasn't sacrificed any of its trademark smarts or nuances; "Everything and Nothing at All" can be the most depressing or uplifting song ever, depending on your view.


One funny moment: during the encore, Janet asked for requests and a few guys kept yelling "Seven Years Gone!" She rolled her eyes and said something like, "Are you sure? That's a hard one for me." Of course, the perfect-postured drummer pulled it off with a smile and without a hitch before the band dug into a totally unironic and inspired cover of "I Can See for Miles." So... the previous song was difficult but she had no qualms about channeling Keith Moon? Okay.


Afterward, Sam and Janet went straight to the merch table, where I thanked them for carving out a spot for me on the tight guest list, gave them a copy of the new issue to read in the van (I wish I saw the new songs live before writing the review), and got a vinyl copy of the new album to replace my lame CD-R promo that keeps getting rejected by my car stereo. One cool touch is that each of the LPs was unwrapped and signed by all three band members. Why don't all touring groups take time to do that? Such an easy, small gesture is really cool to fans. The band has loads of polish and supreme chops, but is punk rock and super down-to-earth like that.



Above: Live, a couple years ago. From the third installment of Christoph Green and Brendan Canty's excellent Burn to Shine series. (It also featuring Sleater-Kinney, The Gossip, The Shins, and more.) Below: Gratuitous tree photo taken on the way back home. Yes, The Echo gets more cool shows these days but I still like Spaceland, which isn't much more than a mile walk from home.

Metal Mark Gilsonic/GRNY x HD

The new CD by the hyper-melodic pop thrash band Hayaino Daisuki comes packaged in a DVD case with a small, glossy zine. As with most projects that involve vocalist Jon Chang, it obsessively and painstakingly touches on hardcore videogames, Asian cinema, comics, and other cool stuff. I was stoked to see a familiar name listed as a contributor, manager Mark Gilson of the GRNY shop, and had to ask him more about his role in the project.

GR: When I got a review copy of Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell, it didn't come with the zine. Now that I see the complete package, I think I got ripped off. As a contributor to the zine, how do you see the relationship between the music and the reading?
MG: Well, I can't really blame Hydra Head, those booklets aren't cheap. On one hand, Jon Chang is a guy who's known in metal circles for being a creator as well as a performer. There are definitely folks who look forward to everything that he brings to his projects--stuff like really stylized packaging, slick T-shirts, and a general sense of design. Then there are folks who just want to hear the music. I suppose the rationale is that a reviewer should be focusing on the music, but I would probably have felt ripped off, too. It definitely adds to the record as a total package.

GR: We run a pretty tight ship at GR, and everyone seems to work overtime. When did you find time to contribute to it?
MG: Actually, all my contributions to the zine were done while I was still working for GR part-time. I wrote my tribute to suitmation in about an hour, and Scratch Trigger Era is a project we've been working on for years, so we know those characters inside and out.


GR: Your ode to suitmation and Gamera 2 is quite spirited. How long has that rant been bottled up in you? Did you recite it? Type it standing up?
MG: Anybody who knows me knows it's really not so hard to get me to rant about anything. I think I banged that out in a single sitting. It definitely benefited from Jon's type treatment, which makes it a lot more energetic. I remember kind of dashing it off and sending it to Jon, and then when I saw it again in the booklet for the first time in months it was a much better read. I've always loved Godzilla. Still do. He's probably my favorite pop-culture icon of all time. Guys like you and Eric who grew up on the West Coast got exposed to a broader range of sentai and kaiju stuff, like Ultraman and Giant Robot, but in NYC we had the 4 O'Clock Movie on Channel 7 and their monster movie weeks. Gamera 2 is so good precisely because Gamera was so bad in the '70s. It's one of those great examples of when somebody is allowed to approach a project with love and care and wonderful things happen. That movie is fantastic. It's the exact opposite of the American remake of Godzilla where Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich approached Godzilla as a huge joke and thought anything they put on screen would be better than the classics. And they failed miserably. (See what I mean about how easy it is to get me to rant?)

GR: Out of all the indie comic artists out there, how did you wind up having Stan Sakai illustrate the strip that you and Jon wrote? Usagi Yojimbo is old school!
MG: Isn't that nuts? Stan Sakai drew a comic I wrote; I still can't wrap my head around that. When we originally talked about having an STE comic in the new zine, Jon told me he didn't think I should draw it. I took it hard at first because I'd always been the primary character designer for the whole Scratch Trigger Era universe, but the idea was really to boost the profile of STE. I'm at best an amateur illustrator, so I realized it would be better if I didn't do it. I thought about dream artists that I'd like to have involved, and came up with Adam Warren and Stan Sakai. Aim high, right? We contacted Adam first, and he had other commitments. By this, time the story focused on I/O and Voranga and I thought that Stan's art would really resonate with those particular characters–"a boy and his 'bot," we were calling it. When Jon contacted Stan, he was willing to do it. It came out great, and Stan deserves credit for supporting indie creators.

GR: I like how the zine covers cute, old, and geeky stuff, and not just the trendier things involving gore or hot women, which metal more typically celebrates. Can you talk about that in relation to HD?
MG: Well for one thing, Jon hates that trendy metal stuff with a passion. I tend to embrace metal warts and all; it's amazing and at times completely ridiculous. HD is really all about Chang and Matsubara wanting to play together. It's like a mutual respect society. GridLink is kind of the serious manifestation of that and HD is the lighter side. I mean, the band's name translates as "We Love Speed." When GridLink played their first show in Osaka in 2006 Jon, Michelle (now his wife), and I all camped out in Matsubara's home in Kyoto with his wife and cat. We all had such an amazing time, and I think that sense of fun and metal-tinged good times really bonded us all, and I feel like HD is kind of a extension of that.


GR: Can you talk about the role of metal in your life? Its relation to your taste in art, music, and culture in general...
MG: Metal has been a good friend who's always there for me. I do listen to other kinds of music--and I've even drifted away from metal from time to time over the years--but I always come back to it. It's kind of a male thing, but not exclusively. It's been like my gateway drug to all sorts of things. When the guys on Earache records started doing electronic projects and working with John Zorn, it made me interested in those styles of music. Great album cover artwork made me want to know about the artists who did them and what kind of stuff they were into. I always read the thank-you lists to see what bands guys in bands I liked listened to.

When any of the bigger bands come around and I can catch their shows, I see guys that I've known from our little East Coast scene for years. I call them "The Old Men of Metal." It's been a common bond between us, between all metalheads really, but I don't feel like it defines ANY of us, if that makes any sense. There are guys who will never cut their hair or wear anything but band T-shirts--I know lots of them. I may look more nerdy than metal, but I saw Metallica with Cliff. Metal has made me friends across the world and allowed me to have some really unforgettable times. It's the soundtrack to the imaginary movie about my life.

GR: Is it true that you're going to leave Giant Robot and join DragonForce?
MG: Personally, I have zero vocal chops. When I used to go to wrestling events and yell all night, I'd be totally hoarse the next day. I was tempted to send that (link) to Chang, though.

Kamchruoch the bells

My pal (and DJ Jester's homie) Prince Klassen sent me a link and a note letting me know about his latest effort: a mix collaboration with Mike 2600 (of Burlesque Design) putting a spotlight on '60s and '70s psychedelic rock, heavy pop, and straight-up funk from Southeast Asia (mostly Cambodia and Thailand). It's full of sweaty, groovy songs with familiar-but-tweaked melodies, vocals with crazy range, and plenty of fuzz and soul--and just a little bit of scratching. The mix is a benefit for Tiny Toones, a center in Phnom Penh for at-risk Cambodian youth, and all fans of Dengue Fever, Neung Phak, and doing something good need to check it out here.

Popcorn and kimchi: GR advance screening of Mother

Thanks to Magnolia, MPRM, and the Laemmle Music Hall for helping Giant Robot present an advance screening of Bong Joon-Ho's new movie, Mother. On a chilly Tuesday night, we had a big enough turnout to get promoted to the larger screen and filled it out comfortably. Two guests walked away with posters signed by the director. One had to answer a trivia question provided by MPRM regarding actress Kim Hye-Ja. The other was the first GR subscriber to hold up her hand!


Lots of faces in the crowd. Above, director Reggie Hudlin, who has impeachable taste in film and comic books. I can count always count on seeing him at the San Diego Comic-Con and GR screenings.


Cate with actors Perrey Reeves (Entourage) and Johann Urb (2012).


Lana Kim of The Directors Bureau, The Lana Show, and J.Lep. In addition to bringing a boxful of GR47 (which featured an interview with Bong) to distribute to early arrivals, I brought new one and wound up giving it to her because she's featured in our mutual friend Saelee Oh's article about Kona coffee and so is her brother Ely.


Inside, GR's own Minister of Color, Pryor Praczukowsski. He makes the photography in our magazine look great. Look for a new, improved Cine House site to go up soon, as well as the movie he served as DP for, Strangers, which screens at FAAIM's Asian American Showcase next month.


Ken Wong (a.k.a. Monkmus) contributes the excellent "'Tween the Cracks" comic to the back page of every GR but is best-known for his music videos and his cool wife Linda, who gave me some popcorn when I was starving.


GR's longtime friend/lawyer/enforcer Mitch Mitchell and his better half, Emiko.


Oscar is one of los bros, who I can always count on to see at GR events. But were was Luis?


Graham was part of the crew at GR's table at Comic-Con last year. Says he can't wait for this year...


Alexi helps out with proofreading when she can. Excellent spelling and command of grammar, as well as taste in movies.


Filmmaker Wing Ko probably worked on some of your favorite skate videos and provided "the voice" of ON Video. Only recently have I learned about his astounding jello-making skills (GR58) and mastery of Italian cuisine (two weeks ago).


This is what the crowd looked like. You should have been there. I'm serious. Sign up to be on our mailing list at the Filmmatters site. We don't have events every week, but when we do something it's always cool.



Above: the trailer. Mother opens on Friday, March 12. Below: my review which appears in GR64.

Mother (South Korea, 2009)
Director Bong Joon-ho has told the story of a dumb guy, the corrupt world that takes advantage of him, and the female family members who save him before. Last time, it was the protagonist’s smarter and stronger sisters that saved his ass from a sea monster. This time, it’s the protagonist’s mom who fights for him after he is framed for murder by the local, lazy, small-town cops. The lengths to which she goes to protect her dull son are astounding, and so are the twists to the dark plot that Bong masterfully weaves. Can a mother’s love go too far? The only thing that could possibly make the movie better would be to have Danzig’s “Mother” play over its closing credits. [Magnolia] mw

Free Leonard Peltier/free Leonard Peltier benefit album

Way back in 1994, there was a benefit compilation in the works for Leonard Peltier, the American Indian movement activist who was unjustly imprisoned by the FBI's COINTELPRO program. (Check out my friend Lee Lew-Lee's All Power to the People documentary for more information on that... As seen in GR10's Yellow Power articles.) The CD never came out and Peltier is still in the hole, but now the tracks are available online.



Lots of great stuff on the playlist, including Rage against the Machine, Bad Religion, Quicksand, and Superchunk, as well as unreleased tracks by the Beastie Boys and Helmet, not to mentions Zack de la Rocha with Corrosion of Conformity covering the Minutemen. Download the songs and find out more about Peltier at the Exiled in the Land of the Free site. Free Leonard Peltier!

The fire, the flames, and YOU

Remember DragonForce? We featured guitar maestro Herman Li's heroic metal band way back in GR48. Here's your chance to put down the Guitar Hero controller, grab the mic, and join the actual band. Herman and the guys need a new singer, so try out now!

Nike SB China: It's a Wrap

Thanks to King Wo for the link. Saves us all a trip to the Night Market, not to mention the hassle of haggling for a bootleg DVD. No Chinky music but plenty of solid and smooth tech as well as some decent-sized hammer dropping. Wow, Chinese people skating in China--interesting concept.