happy new year

*via the Los Angeles Times, Jan 27, 1928

I don't know what shenanigans you'll be tucking into this weekend, but I'll be ringing in the New Year. The Chinese New Year that is. If you're a sucker for a parade or have a penchant for the deliciousness that Chung King cuisine as well as the requisite Angeleno gourmet gut trucks promise to provide (yes, including the Kogi truck, duh), you just might want to head downtown Saturday and Sunday to say goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcome in The Year of the Snake. In case you're harboring any serpentine fears, worry not. The snake, in the Chinese lunar calendar, is associated with both wisdom and beauty, making the upcoming year appear pretty sweet indeed.

new 50c word: arcology

Arcology: defined and created by Italian Architect Paolo Soleri, ARCOSANTI is an intentional city and urban dwelling whose design principles are guided by arcology, a fusion of architecture and ecology. ARCOSANTI is:

• part futuristic dwellings a la Uncle Owen and Aunt Veru's whitewashed geodesic domes built into the mountains on Tatooine

• part eco-structure that addresses urban mobility with innovative solutions that do not require an automobile 

• part Mad Max pottery barn, complete with bronze and ceramic bells that hang throughout the Arcosanti complex 

• part urban laboratory, part HQ for silt-casting workshops, (Hey! You made you first tile! Batchelder would love it.) 

• part intentional community, part one-stop-living-and-shopping - the Arcosanti environs are meant to address both the labor and leisure activities of it's residents 

• part time-warp back to nostalgic futurism 

• part community design that bases its structural output and construction with the design principals of of lean, frugal elegance and architecture 

• part camp for grown-ups (forget architecture and tennis and get ready to participate in construction skill shares.)

*all photos courtesy of arcosanti

jeep beats

 

It's Labor Day weekend, which means it's time to take it easy. By dancing your tush off. 

If you live in the city of angels and are looking for something to do tonight, here's, as the kids say, the 411: as a performance/tribute/elegy to the late artist Mike Kelley, local Angelenos Scott Benzel and Mark Hagen are tripping out a 1970's pinto with a custom pyramidal bass cabinet and pumping Booty Bass and early Detroit Techno alongside a live performance piece. 

Get cultured and show off your best pop-and-lock? Take that, Pimp My Ride.

BASS ELEGY/DEVIL'S NIGHT: Saturday, Sept. 1, 8pm @ LA><ART, 2460 La Cienega btw. Venice and Washington

*photo courtesy of Bass Elegy/Devil's Night