Vegas Vacation

So I'm back, and what a trip it was. I'm still pretty tired from it all, but i'll gather up enough energy to post some highlights. Let me just say the weekend included... running out of gas, brawls on the freeway in the middle of traffic, lots of women, beer pong, freckles (haha), VIP access, blackouts, stolen ID's, Salt Lake City Kat, and some other things i won't mention here. But everything was good though. I even got the chance to say hi to Vanessa, La Calavera's sister. But after a lot of money spent, and a 6 hour road trip to get home, here's a few pics (not everything)... dvd coming soon.

Click the Pic

La Calavera's Underground Art Events of the I.E.

Que Onda amigo y amiga!! As usual, art is in the air just like the smell of cow shit when you're passing by Ontario on the freeway!!! Here’s the run down:

This weekend at the Riverside Arts museum there's gonna be some fresh stuff on show, I know this museum doesn't have much of a rep when it comes to post-mod art but it's trying to change that with these new exhibits. It begins with the opening reception this Sunday from 4 -7 p.m. (5 dollar reception fee) and continues on till May17. The exhibits features "The Big Sad: Clare Rojas and Barry Mcgee", "Thank you for Staying: Raymond Pettibon", and "It's About Time! and space: Jon Roach and Dan Nguyen".

Here's some other stuff going on in April; the first two take place at Back 2 the Grind while the last one takes place in Pomona.

More Events will be posted.

Hasta La Proxima,

La Calavera #42

Happy Weekend

I'm off to Vegas for the weekend, but I thought I'd leave you with some funny stuff to look at before I go.

This is my new favorite website called The Fail Blog. This stuff had me laughing for like an hour. Here's an example of the stuff on their site... Somebody's fake ID, haha!


Too funny! Have a good weekend! Pics and updates Monday.

So dope..

Gianluca Fallone is one of my new favorite artists.. Click
Here for more.

Classic!

Pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot! Haha! That dude's laugh is ridiculous!

These Robots Still Scare The Hell Outta Me!

They can even dance! Now that's crazy!

If I Catch Someone Walking Around In These..

I'll really have to slap them...

Interview of the year!

Nothing Like A Woman That Can Make You Laugh

Vanity Fair mag did their cover story on women of comedy, like Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Maya Rudolph, etc. I love Maya Rudolph, who is the daughter of famous soul singer, Minnie Riperton. Anyway, I admit, I didn't really read the essay written about these women, but I did check out the pics from the photo shoot which were shot by Annie Leibovitz who has pretty dope work, like this American Music photo gallery.

This particular photo shoot in Vanity Fair had the girls doing concepts from Greek goddesses to Hollywood starlets who party too much (i.e. Sarah Silverman as Amy Winehouse).

The Empire Kids IMPROVED logo

Beautiful, Creative, Chingon! Those are only a few of the many words that can be used to describe our newly improved "The Empire Kids" Logo. This special post goes out to La Calavera's good friend. . .the I.E.'s up and coming graphic design Artist ERIC WRIGHT. He'll be displaying some of his art work at this April's Riverside Arts Walk so go out and support this great artista.

Eric Wright

Hasta La Proxima,

La Calavera #42

Vegas baby, Vegas!

So it looks like I'll be in Vegas this weekend.. I'm pretty excited. It's Spring Break, and I'm gonna take a mini-vacay with my boys.

Hit me up if you're out there. We'll hang out. I'm gonna try to avoid the $2000 tabs this time around too...

La Calavera Quicky: La Revolucion de Emiliano Zapata

Today's quicky mis amigo's y amiga's is on 1970's psychedelic rock. Yes, in Mexico during the era of the hippies this form of rock was celebrated by many. There were a number of bands who were trying to caputre that essence in their music. One particular band from Guadalajara was "La Revolucion de Emiliano Zapata" headed by Javier Martin del Campo. One of their songs, "Nasty Sex", broke sales records in (of all places) Europe during the 70's. Here are two videos featuring the songs and photo's of the band. Enjoy.

Hasta La Proxima,

La Calavera #42

Nasty Sex (1970)


Melynda (1971)

Happy Easter!

First Photos of Snake Eyes from the G.I. Joe movie

I know Myron's about to cream his pants right now..

Stranger Images

I love this! Check out what Jay Carlson from
The Plug did. He left his camera on a street bench for a day to let strangers take pics on it. You know he isn't in the Inland Empire or LA, because somebody would've taken a pic of their butt. Haha.

Burger, Fries, Wi-Fi?

It's been reported that Jack In The Box, McDonald's, and of course Starbucks, will be offering free Wi-Fi at their places of biz. Jack in the Crack beat all of 'em to it as it seems. It'll be just like Clerks 2 when they had an iMac at a cheesy fast food restaurant called Moobies.

Here's the new ad for McDonald's... crazy.

The internet is getting so culturally diverse...lol

Check out these..

White People

Black People

Asian People

and the funniest one... Ghetto Folks

Which one is your favorite?

I love Paul Mooney

The ART of war (protest).

Now before I go on. . .La Calavera would like to make something clear about this protest: We support our troops! They are the brave individuals who are out in the frontlines putting their lives at risk. This protest is about brining our troops home from a war that BEGAN with an honorable cause (fighting terrorism, especially in regards to 9/11) but later festered into something that was based on lies put out by our government. We are protesting against the unfair treatment some of our wounded (both physically and psychologicaly) soldiers recieve when they come back home, especially when it comes to getting the proper medical care they deserve. It's about putting the billions of dollars that's being used to fund the war each year into areas where it's really needed: education, public programs, improving our economy!

Photo by La Calavera

La Calavera was out with the beautiful Gina Wagner this past Saturday representing The Empire Kids and the I.E. at the Anti-War march and rally, its 5 year anniversary . This protest was truly a mixture of social activism and art. From the Asian American/Pacific islanders dancing to the beats of their drums, to abstract performances, to the Black Panthers and the Latino voice, it seemed that every form of art and culture was represented on this march down Hollywood Blvd.

Photo by La Calavera

photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Even Bush and Cheney made an appearance.

Photo by La Calavera

The crowd was massive, the signs were up, and music and art were surrounding everyone. This was a powerful march with a message of love and peace.

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Symbolic images were found throughout the crowd: those protesting the unfair treatment of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, the many coffins that the conservative media "forgets" to show on T.V. that are coming back from the war, and the oil that many oil companies are waiting to get their hands on.

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo' by La Calavera

The march stopped in Front of the CNN building where the massive crowd gave an ear to many powerful speakers from the Latino, Black, Afagan, and anti-war community. These speakers brought a message of hope and strength. The key idea is not to give up, don't live in silence but raise your voice or else one will never become part of the soloution.

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

Photo by La Calavera

The march was an example of the old cliche: walking the walk and talking the talk. The art found throughout the massive crowd was both beautiful and inspiring. Hopefully some of these images will remind all you uderground T.S. Eliot's, Andy Warhol's, and Angela Davis's of the Inland Empire, that you can make a difference; through works of art, music, performance, writing, whatever your talent may be.

Hasta La Proxima,

La Calavera #42

Photo by La Calavera

P.S. Don't Forget to check out The Empire Kids on Myspace for info on upcoming events, more images, and extra info. And to find out more about getting involved with the anti-war movement check out: http://www.answerla.org/ I'm working on getting an answer I.E. out here, let me know if you're interested.

Irregular Flow

Crazy..

This is hysterical!

Straight up exactly how the movie went down! The Wii bowling in the background is classic!

Trailer Trash

Today was a day of WACK movie trailer premieres..

First "The Incredible Hulk"

click the pic

Then even worse... "The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe"

click the pic

Boy am I looking forward to these summer blockbusters...NOT!!! Straight up Borat style fool! At least Corey Feldman is still getting paid somehow. And let's hope this Incredible Hulk is better than "The Hulk" that came out a few years back..

Why can't we get more good movies like this to come out in 2008?

I actually would like to see more interesting films such as this... now that's amazing!

Less Is Better

This is what The Empire Kids office will look like in 6 months. I hope! Organization rules!

What Happened To This Dude?

La Calavera Quicky: David Lynch and Gucci

One of the things in La Calavera's to do list before he dies and see's his old friend La Muerte, is to meet David Lynch. I'd take him to Big Boy Bob's in L.A. and we'd both have a chocolate Milk Shake and a Tuna melt!!!! Here's one of the many commercials directed by this great hombre: Gucci by Gucci.
Enjoy.

La Calavera

So Game Crazy!

These are ridiculous!

Check out these Gameboy Boots. I know Myron would love these. Anytime he's chillin' and bored, he can just pop that baby right outta his shoes! I believe they're the new hotness out in Japan with teenagers.

For more info click Here

Rate My Cop

I saw this on the news today..


Click the pic

Maybe cops will start being nicer to us "innocent" people..

La Calavera says: peek-a-boo. . .I see you

I wear my sunglasses at night

Tag Heuer has just came out with their new "Night Vision" glasses. It's supposed to be designed for those who spend a lot of time on the road. Pretty cool stuff. Now I can really be like The Terminator! Click Here for more info..

Urbanati DJ Console

So sick! This was made using recycled cork, recycled pine beam and plywood. The designer Trevor O’Neil is known for creating designs out of recycled materials. This piece goes for $2,000, but I think it was sold already. I just hope it doesn't fall apart if somebody bumps into it on the dancefloor, haha. But it's still dope though.

Jerry Springer is still awesome!

Don’t zip up that bodybag; the art scene in Riverside is alive and well.

It wasn’t too long ago when one would conjure up images of cottage paintings and drawings of a White Wolf howling at the moon when someone would mention The Riverside Arts Walk (which occurs on the first Thursday night of each month). Not that there‘s anything wrong with cottages or wolves since the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder, but you know. . .

With that said, the Arts walk has evolved into a haven for surreal, post-mod, eclectic artists. From abstract imagery painted on a mannequin’s torso to photographs of local indie bands, The Walk has new blood running through its veins. The locations where the artist displayed their work varied: from the sidewalk to the second floor of the Back to the Grind Coffee shop to the UCR Sweeney Art Gallery. This stuff was everywhere! I lit my first clove for the evening, took a drag, and began taking a walk.

While traveling down the street La Calavera came upon two up-and-coming I.E artists worthy of much notice: Zakary Rodgers and Travis Duran.

Artist: Zakary Rodgers
Form of art: mixed media, painting, drawing, writing
Home Town: Corona
Age: 17
Trademark characteristic: “I have a long list of mental problems”
Link: www.myspace.com/ZakaryRodgers

Zakary Rodgers

The sidewalk was crowded. The sound of admiration was in the air. In the center of all this was Zak Rodgers. A good guy who is approachable. He drove from Corona to display his pieces tonight. “Yeah, I’d describe my work as stream of conscious. What ever is in my head at the time, I paint. I draw on anything I can get my hands on.” As La Calavera looked at his work I was amazed and impressed at the surreal drawings that covered items such as pieces of cardboard, toilet seats, glass frames, and the torsos of 3 mannequins. “I’ve been working on my art for about 2-3 years but it always came natural to me. I remember when I was a baby drawing all over the place with my mom’s lipstick.” “My first pieces were done on cardboard when I was put in Military School. I got locked in the bathroom one time and I just started drawing.” Zak is someone with a lot of potential who has a good future waiting for him. Check out some of his art below and to find out more about him, click on the myspace link.

(Paintings/Drawings By Zak Rodgers)

Next, La Calavera’s friend, Eric, led him to an entrance next to Back to the Grind. Before I walked up the carpeted stairs, I took the last drag of my clove before hittin’ brown’s ville. I flicked it onto the sidewalk and began climbin’. The faint sound of some D.J’s beats started getting louder and louder till I eventually reached the top. The D.J. was playing in one of the rooms but I wasn’t here for that. As I turned. . . there it was. On the hallway wall, a set of photographs hung attracting the attention of many art goers. Photographs that had this presence about them, a sort of mental noise. . . These photographs aren’t flat, I mean. . .they’re taken in a way where you can just “hear” what’s going on in them. They have depth. Next to them was a guy with massive piercings leaning on his long board wearing a black hoodie.

Artist: Travis Duran
Form of Art: photography
Home Town: Mira Loma
Age: 24
Trademark characteristic: “I have 8 transdermal implants, I’m into body mod.”
Link: www.myspace.com/photosbytravis

Travis Duran

This is Travis Duran the photographer. “I deal mainly with photographing live bands but I’m movin’ towards pin-ups.” Travis was a really humble/personable guy. “I started taking photography classes in High School, but after I graduated I didn’t have any equipment to work with. I eventually saved up enough to by the stuff I needed.” He uses a digital camera but still enjoys being in the Dark room. He loves the art scene in Riverside “I’m from Mira Loma, but this is my first art show in Riverside.” After a shake of the hand I took one more glimpse of his photo’s and walked back down onto the street. For more info on Travis, click on his myspace link. Below are a few samples of his work.

Photos by Travis Duran

Pissed off because I couldn't take photo's of La Calavera with these great artists (I left my camera at home), I lit up one more clove, continued down the street and ended up at the U.C.R Sweeney art gallery where a lot of good items were on display. After that I went back to Aces and Eights where our favorite photographer, Malina Love, was busy showing her work to the people coming in. Check out the previous months blog for info on Malina and her great work. Also click on the link on the rightside of the screen: Malina Love Photography. Don't forget to hit these artist up and show them some support!

Hasta La Proxima,

La Calavera #42