Hit the Oakland Museum of California for their collection of works by local cartoon artist Dan Clowes. Creator of several stunning graphic novels — some adapted to film — Clowes arguably “launched” comics into “legitimacy”… whatever that means. All we know is we love Wilson for his misanthropy and the local setting.

Visit our favorite local antojeria (not an easy contest) for this weekend’s celebration of the Battle of Puebla a.k.a. Cinco de Drinko. Read up before you drink up the $5 margs on the outdoor patio, friends.

Catch a showing of Hitchcockian romantic thriller, Charade, at the deco-gorgeous Paramount theater. Suspense! Intrigue! Cary Grant! Everyone wins. Movie starts at 8, $5.

Drop by your local comic book store to grab some Free Comic Book Day swag on Saturday. Two of our favorite shops here and here.

Luke Judd is jovial, irreverent, and wants to brighten the dark corners of Oakland. I’ve had the pleasure of watching his video collages illuminate numerous local music gigs, like the New Parish show pictured above, as well the treetops of a Guerneville campsite and even my own backyard. To see his visuals up close and in person takes an evening into another realm. With an eclectic variety of footage, Judd’s work ranges from psychedelic to nostalgic to humorous, colorful, creepy, you name it. Kitten footage? He’ll show you kitten footage like you’ve never before seen.

“Often my work is funny and other times it’s quite unsettling. My inspiration is the discovery that occurs in the shuffling of these philosophical pieces. The more I add to my archive the potential combinations grow. At the end of a good night of mixing, I understand the world and/or myself a little better.”

Now he’s looking to take it a step further and light up the nights of Oakland with his proposed ‘Roving Projections.’ The video of his videos is like a copy of a copy- it hardly does his work justice- but presents the idea of building a mobile unit with its own power source so that he could trip the light fantastic anywhere, anytime. Spontaneous public art? Impromptu movie screenings? The possibilities are great, and I’m down.

There’s just over two weeks left on his Kickstarter and he’s already made more than a quarter of what he needs, check out his proposal video below. I asked him a few questions to find out more, see his answers below the jump!

BAB: How did you get into the visual arts?

LJ: I discovered I massively enjoy video editing in college and that I had a skill for sifting through large amounts of footage and pulling out tiny bits that told self contained stories. Later, I became focused on video loops. Finding and creating pieces of video that would hopefully grow more interesting and informative the more they played.

In 2005, I moved from Sonoma County to San Francisco. At that point I was just making short films and music videos. I loved video editing, but I hated that all this work went it to making something that was creatively dead to me once I’d finished. When a musician makes an album, that work is out in the world as is. It’s static but they can still tinker with it live. There’s still room for discovery. When a filmmaker is done with a piece, it is done. That’s what I mean by creatively dead. My roommate at the time, Daniel Mckenzie (Shuteye Unison, The Rum Diary, Built for the Sea) planted the seed and pointed me in the direction of live mixing software. Off I ran. Suddenly all this video I loved had new life and new meanings depending on the way they were contextualized.

After doing shows around San Francisco for about a year, practicing set lists beforehand and using the venues’ in house projectors and screens, I hit the road with The Aimless Never Miss on a national tour. It was a formative experience for me. Projecting in cafe houses, tiny venues and house parties taught me a punk rock ethic to projections that I still hold. I avoid screens whenever I can. It also taught me a lot about being present and improvising, as well as how the human mind will often do a lot of work for you as far syncing video and music. Nowadays, almost all my work is improvisational and based on my free association in the moment.

One of the most formative experiences in my life was a festival called Invisible Ocean. It was the first I’d ever projected outside in a natural environment. It blew my mind and I was hooked. It is one of my favorite things in the world, to be in the woods with friends lighting up trees. It was that festival that change my focus from video jockeying to manipulating larger video installations.

BAB: What inspired this idea?

LJ: The idea came from a desire to do ephemeral light graffiti essentially. To be able at a moment’s notice or inspiration take a message to the streets. Be set up in five minutes, be broke down in two. Have the ability to make content in the fly. Sometimes it will be subversive, sometimes it will be purely aesthetic.

It’s something I’ve been kicking around for years but seeing the impact of the projections during the Occupy Wall Street marches definitely lit a fire in me. I have a friend who was involved in the Aquapy boats and I saw how a public art protest connects with people in a way that chanting slogans doesn’t. I want to create moments where complete strangers stop and share a moment together. If you can get them to start a dialogue its even better.

What I’m trying to do is build a tool for collaboration more than I’m doing this to put my work out in the world. My hope is to help various artists to take their work or make works in the public spaces. Public Karaoke and Liberation Drive-In style movie showings are two other potential uses for this tool.

BAB: What impact do you hope to make on the city with this project?

LJ: I want complete strangers stop and share a moment together. A moment that they would have missed if they hadn’t not walked down that very street, at that very time. If you can get them to start a dialogue its even better. If I’m being overly optimistic, people will see the physical world a little differently. Maybe it will reveal possibilities in our daily lives we overlook. I won’t know if I don’t try.

Does yoga appeal to you, but its accompanying new agey music does not?

Showga is a weekly live music yoga extravaganza curated and instructed by a small tour de force named Katie Colver.  Featuring up and coming Bay Area musicians, Showga  has been building and thriving in Oakland since Summer 2011. With the debut of Showga’s new weekly San Francisco installment on April 3rd (with experimental instrumentalists Silian Rail), we decided to ask Ms. Colver a few questions about this awesome new take on yoga.

What was the inspiration for Showga? Showga ultimately stemmed from a few places. The idea was brewing for a couple years at least, as I had been contemplating how to combine my passions for yoga and music in a unique and accessible way.

In summer of 2009 I co-founded East Bay Community Yoga (EBCY), a collective that provides donation-based yoga classes and workshops in Oakland. I am also a musician and in these past few years I have become connected with many music communities. Many of the students in my EBCY classes were people I met at shows. Particularly, at first, a lot of folks from D.I.Y., punk, and queer communities were coming regularly. It was radical for me to experience a new yoga culture, so different from what I’d been immersed with at yoga studios over the past 10 years.

One day last spring I was discussing my idea to start a class with different live musicians with a friend of mine, Alejandro Archuleta (of Psychic Handbook), who designed the Oakland Showga logo. He informed me of a similar event happening in Denver, CO, where he used to live. It was called Showga, and started by instructor Piper Rose. We asked Piper if we could use the name, and she was excited for us to do so.

How did it get started?

It was actually at the C.A.M.P. music festival last summer that I led the first showga event (we called it ‘Noise Yoga’ at the time), at 9 am in a big meadow, with Matt Bernarding playing beautiful music. Then, in September, I decided to ask my friend Adam Hatch (owner of Hatch Gallery) about starting a weekly Showga event at his new space, Starline Social Club. Now, 7 months later I have curated 26 different musical acts for my Monday night classes in the Starline Ballroom and we will continue every week, now twice a week with the addition of the Tuesday night San Francisco Showga class staring April 3!

How has it influenced your life?

There was an incredible instructor there, and in his classes I learned the yoga principles of non-attachment, non-judgement, contentment, and the deep joy that comes from simply being present in the moment with whatever your current experience may be. Right after I graduated high school I got a job at the front desk at the original Yogaworks studio in Santa Monica, and immersed myself in the practice, having access to some of the top instructors and senior teachers the country. I did my first teacher training that year, at Yogaworks with Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford. Since then, yoga has influenced my life in far more ways than I can describe. The practice has truly saved my life and the ways in which my relationship with yoga evolves over time continues to surprise me.

Anybody and everybody! Music lovers, yoga lovers, trippers, those who might feel alienated or turned off by studio yoga culture, which can often have a pretentious, corporate, cliquey vibe, not to mention just may not be an option for some people financially, with drop-in classes averaging $20 these days. I am committed to Showga being affordable. Oakland Showga is sliding scale $5-15, and San Francisco Showga will be sliding scale $10-20.

Michael Latronica (manager of the Convent) is a friend of mine. When he informed me of their new space next door to the Convent, the Center, and the big yoga/dance studio with bamboo floors they built there I knew it would be a good option for SF Showga. It is beautiful and I am so excited to see how this event takes off there.

Participants should bring a mat if they have one (but we have mats at the space as well). There is a cover of $10-20, sliding scale.

Memorable moments / Favorite bands to work with?

There have truly been so many amazing musicians and bands that I’ve worked with. I suppose one of my favorite Showgas was when 3 very talented female Oakland musicians, Colleen Johnson, Rosie Steffy, and Isobel Marcus (from bands Twig Palace, Upside Drown, and Pine) collaborated with synths, banjos, percussion toys, amazing drone-y harmony vocals, and looping as the musical performance for the class. Another memorable Showga was when Winston Goertz-Giffen (Ted The Block) put amps around the whole room for a ‘surround sound’ effect. There is a short video of this Showga by Luke Judd:

I am just stoked to keep it going right now. Curating 2 bands a week (for the Oakland and SF Showgas) will be a lot of work. I just hope to see more and more people from all walks of life coming to check it out. I will definitely be leading at least a couple Showga classes at this year’s C.A.M.P. And a future tour would be really fantastic.

SF Showga #1- Silian Rail, 4/3/12

Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm, weekly

The Center SF (The Convent)

548 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94117

This past weekend a few of us ladies took a little coastal roadtrip down to LA as a mini-vacation from the Bay Area. Our friend in Silverlake had told us all kinds of good things about the East Side. It was awesome to see a part of LA that is way more down to earth and laid back than the Hollywood/Sunset/Melrose areas I had come to dislike 5 years ago. I learned that rent is cheap, but everything else is expensive. People still have to drive everywhere but there is a visible bike culture growing there. It also became apparent that Echo Park is, somewhat sadly, nothing like it used to be in the days of Mi Vida Loca. The lake is no more, so it goes. Below is our 3 day itinerary, after the jump:

Koffee Pot, Oakland

FrutiLand, Pismo Beach

Friday:

Wake up hungover. Get greasy breakfast at the Koffee Pot. Get on the road by 10:30, decide to take the 101 all the way down because it’s more scenic. Listen to the Cranberries. Stop for lunch in Pismo Beach for fish tacos and cucumber slushies at some roadside hut called FrutiLand. Get in to LA around 6:30. Crack open celebratory box of Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA. Discuss dinner. Decide on Masa in Echo Park. Order epic deep dish pizza while you wait. Admire the colorful oilcloth on the tables and the jewel toned lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Snag a booth in the corner and share a carafe of wine. Try not to succumb to food coma, because it’s after 10pm and it’s bar time. Check out the Edendale in Los Feliz, which can still be recognized as an old fire station if you look closely. Discuss your friends’ film projects and practice “smizing.” Order hot toddies because your voice is gone and stare constantly at everyone in case they might be “someone.” Take goofy photo booth pictures in the courtyard. Call it a successful night. Fall asleep on the couch to Upright Citizens’ Brigade’s AssssCat.

El Chavo

Saturday:

Sleep until noon. Take your time getting ready. Decide where to go for brunch. Decide on Local in Silverlake. Drive, don’t walk, because it is hot out and you are all lazy and dehydrated. Order coffee and split the humongous chilaquiles, bug the waiter to find you a table in the shady covered area. Wait for friends to find you. Split amazing spicy fries with them when they arrive. Get free refills of the coffee. Hang out at Local until 3pm, and discuss the nature of the lurking Japanese photographer’s business. Decide to go find the Church of Scientology. Get lost trying to find it, but drive past the COS Celebrity Center instead. Find the huge purple factory that is the Church, and hang out in the lobby. Get asked to be in a photo shoot. Evade the question by searching for the restroom. The way to the bathroom reminds you of a scene from inside the Emerald Palace. Wait for your friend to get evaluated. Then leave to go check out Union Station. Admire the Art Deco decor, and watch models in vintage attire being photographed in dramatic shafts of sunlight. Go home to take a breather and change for the evening. Decide you need to hit up a drug store and go shopping. Find second hand sandals, dresses, a little red purse. Get Thai food for dinner at Pattaya in Los Feliz. Go home to drink cocktails and wait for friends. Make a note that pomegranate lime juice is an amazing mixer. Friends come and you smoke on the porch while discussing exploding kittens, some show called Manswers, and “coke bloat.” It’s 11pm, so it’s time to go. You decide to try Jumbo’s Clown Room, a circus themed bikini bar much discussed the past couple of days. You look for parking, can’t find any. There is a line of hip young hotties out front. Lines?! WTF? You all discuss whether to wait or not. You decide the line is too slow, so you go to El Chavo instead. Admire the glowing sombreros on the ceiling and the plethora of 70′s style colored Christmas lights everywhere. Drink til late, then go get late night doughnuts. Take pictures with Elliott Smith’s Figure 8 wall across the street. Go home, eat leftover pad thai, and finish AssssCat.

Exterior of Brite Spot

Copper Cafe, at the Madonna Inn

Sunday:

Set an alarm this time. Get packed and out to brunch before noon. Go to Brite Spot in Echo Park. Admire the dark wood paneling and kitsch clown portraits. Order coffee and a breakfast hash with brussel sprouts in it. Get really excited about brussel sprouts for breakfast. Get on the road by 1:30, decide to take 101 all the way up because it’s more scenic. Decide to stop in Santa Barbara to stock up on used CDs. Score Third Eye Blind and No Doubt’s Singles. Buy shoes and sunglasses. Wander around State Street and feel nostalgic. Get back on the road, sing along to No Doubt, and watch the sun set over Avila Beach. Stop at the famous Madonna Inn for a quick tour and a burger in the Copper Cafe. Sit at the counter and talk about sex in front of the servers. Take 101 back into San Francisco, hug your friend goodbye, cross the bridge and get into Oakland around midnight. Promise yourself that next time, next time, you will see some clown titties.

Life is better with a soundtrack. That’s pretty much our mantra. And after watching MLK JR WAY, the hyper-local squatter flick that’s been making the viewing rounds, we can say life is better with a soundtrack you made yourself. Electronic tracks from Oakland artists Moon Roof, Jay Casio, RnB Millionaires and Pony Loco add nostalgia and endearment to otherwise typical shots of partying and bumming around, making the bare-bones film a commemoration to a youth scene that might be drastically different (or not) in ten to twenty years.  We decided to ask its creators, Eliseo Cabrera Iribar and Kara Cohen, a few questions and find out more about the music in the film- now available for download here.

BAB: What was the inspiration for the film?
Eliseo: Me and my friend Erik [Stinson], we made a film together, Sorry I Like to Party and we wanted to keep making movies. Initially we just wanted to show how certain people lived in this part of Oakland. It’s a really small sub-culture. And our friends are really funny so it’s like, we decided to make a comedy. Let’s make a feature length this time.  Then after we started to actually make it serious, we wanted to show a different side of the other half. How poor people live but not in a sad way.

BAB: Who is the target audience for this film?
Eliseo: It’s for anybody who is interested in anthropology.  I wanted to do a historical fiction movie. And in a way, it’s similar to the French writers from the 1900′s like Flaubert where it posits that this is what’s going on at this point right now with these people. That’s what we wanted.  But mostly, it probably appeals to young people. We’ve shown it to old people. I was impressed that they enjoyed it and got it. They got it more than some others. So I guess like younger people and people who are into history.

BAB: How much of the film is fact and how much is fiction?
Kara: It’s so hard to quantify. Every moment in the film contains aspects of fact and aspects of fiction. Some characters are fictional, most play themselves. The settings are all real places and real events in Oakland. Many of the conversations are real conversations but some may not have happened if it weren’t for us filming. Essentially, take reality, add a few fictional characters, add some fictional events and motivations, and you get what we got, a hybrid.
Eliseo: Me and Erik were really into mumblecore. And you know, watching those films is good because you see a lot of authentic conversations and also you have the sense that you could do a movie like that. So we did the same thing with Sorry I Like to Party and gave very little direction. We just said “This is the premise of the scene. Go. This is what you need to accomplish. Go.” And then certain parts where we did have to mold the storyline, we told them what they had to do but it’s all their dialogue.  We didn’t tell them what to say but the scenes are set up.  It’s prompted.

BAB: So is that what inspired the blend that you have of fiction and reality? We’ve been struck by the fact that it’s not unlike reality TV in a way, where the drama is vaguely scripted but not very, and there aren’t multiple takes.
Eliseo: The thing I would say is where a reality TV show tries to sell you that it’s real, we’re trying to sell you that it’s fake. Whereas it’s not a documentary. Everything is real but the plot. The background is real. The foreground is fake. That is the house they live in.

BAB: Eliseo, what made you decide to work with Kara on this project?
Eliseo: Essentially it was me and Erik and we did Sorry I Like to Party on a 1991 Sony H8 VHS camera that he had. And even though it looked really cool and looked very hipster-y, if we wanted to make it serious we had to use HD and none of us had an HD camera except for Kara.  And she had the tools to edit.  We didn’t have any of that. So we were just like ‘Hey do you want to be a director, also?’ And she was down.  She’s a friend of ours.

BAB: Kara what made you decide to work with Eliseo on this project?
Kara: Eliseo and Erik asked me to be the director of photography. They are good friends of mine and I was hanging out at Eliseo’s house when they were writing first version of the story. I helped them figure out the ending. After not too long as the DP, they asked me to be a director too. Probably because I am bossy.

BAB: Did you face any challenges while making MLK Jr Way?
Eliseo: One challenge was  obviously the sound. It’s not that good because we didn’t have a boom or anything. We had a really limited budget.  I was unemployed most of the time and Erik didn’t have any money and Kara didn’t have money to give away, she was a student so we didn’t really have any money to spend on any equipment other than what Kara had.

BAB: How do you feel like your limited budget shaped or hindered the film?
Kara: Because so much of the film is real life, we needed to be able to film anytime anywhere and not be intrusive about it. We only used a small DSLR that was easy to store in a backpack, whip it out at any moment and not make the actors feel like they were acting. This affected our sound and the stability of our shots. Ultimately though, we feel like the unpolished production quality adds to the authenticity of the film. It wouldn’t have been what we were aiming for had we used lights, tripods and mics. The sound was sacrificed a bit, but it was worth it. We added subtitles that allowed the viewer to really pay attention to the dialogue, which is important to us.

BAB: What was it like to be a character in your own film? What prompted that decision?
Eliseo: For Kara, it was because it was hard to get girls to be on the dates. So I threw her in that. And for my part in it, the first scene we ever did was the one at the house [Ed note: this scene sets up primary plot conflict]. And all those kids are hanging out. So it would have been a lot easier if I was in it as, kind of a quarterback of directing the scene.  To get the scene in motion.

BAB: Did making the film have any unexpected outcomes? Did you have any expectations going in?
Kara: We didn’t expect to come out with such an incredible soundtrack. We’ve never doubted the talent of our friends/actors but we were really astonished at how much the music contributed to the film.
Eliseo: I didn’t have any expectations, I just went head first. Mostly because I knew a lot of film kids through college who would take forever to make a film or they’d never do it because they didn’t get funding or some bullshit. So I just wanted to make it and then worry about it later. Jason [Canepa] did get mad about the drug scene. Of the things he’s done, that’s the thing he’s most ashamed of. And any time he shows it with his family he tells them it’s not real coke. It was also good to finally have Moon Roof out there. Because that music project they did, it got a bit buried. And they let us use it. I think a lot of people respond to that most with the movie.

BAB: The Art Faccia review made the point that there aren’t any strong female roles. Can you speak to that?
Kara: The film is very strongly from the perspective of the male characters. A lot of the females are shown through the lens of the protagonists. The two girls that the protagonists fall for, they are tough and funny. Izzy and Sarah are badasses in real life and on film. The film is a lot less about dating and gender than it seems.
Eliseo: I’ve seen romantic comedies where the main guy is a nice guy, generally. But guys do that. They talk about shit like that. That wasn’t even that vulgar as what we say in real life.  So it may seem like they’re assholes but it is what it is. It’s also like a survival thing. It’s not like they’re faking their emotions in the movie or anything. I wanted to do mostly the opposite of what I see in shitty romantic comedies where it’s like noble values. These are real people. People have flaws.  The main characters are also a product of their environment. Where they can’t afford to go to school. Even if they did, why would they work that hard to get a shitty job being a financial analyst. When they can not work as hard and have way more fun.
BAB: Is that a statement about the main characters? Or is that a statement about our generation?
Eliseo: I could use them as examples but that’s how I felt when I lived there. And I still live in Oakland. And I work with people who have really boring lives and they probably look down upon people like that for being lazy or stuff like that. And at the same time, people like Gabe [Santos] & Albert [Luera] have way more fun than those people. And you’re working for a corporation that could fire you any second and you’re still in debt from school.

BAB: Future plans in cinema? Would you make a similar film about a different cultural subset? For instance, one that you didn’t happen to be a part of.
Eliseo: If I had money or access, yes. The next film I’m doing is similar.  It has a character from this culture, which is Justin [Flores], who’s an artist. But he’s more driven than they are. He wants to be a rapper. And his best friend lives in San Francisco and she’s a bougie girl and she has that thing going on. And she’s trying to get her PhD. So I’m taking one step into a different area but still keeping one foot in familiar territory.
Kara: I am pursuing a career in advertising. Hopefully I will be creating/writing commercials and films through out my career. It isn’t cinema but it is creating stories through the same medium and I love it. I make short videos for fun all the time as well.

download the soundtrack to MLK JR WAY here, $5

Black Jeans

Pressed And

RnB Millionaires

Eyes Lips Eyes

G. Green

Casey & Brian

I was bummed to not catch Dark Beach, but an awesome time otherwise. A great start to 2012′s concert season, I think the love was certainly felt.  View the whole set on flickr!

Word on the street is that Mission Creek Oakland looks to be this year’s biggest East Bay music event, and the festivities are getting a head start tonight with a kick-off fundraiser at the Uptown. And don’t be scared by the word “fundraiser” because entry is a mere $5. Perfect cheap date, much?

When I first heard Casey & Brian this past summer, I was thrown back to warm college nights of LA scene-dancing with nostalgic ardor. Although I don’t miss the straight ironed euro mullets and dudes wearing heavy eye liner, I have missed the dancing. Casey & Brian fill that void with DFA-worthy dance beats and psychadelic synths, and a specific Bay Area flair. The line up is solid with Oakland garage girls Dark Beach, poppy punk from Sactown’s G.Green, and sunny LA  fingerpicking outfit Eyes Lips Eyes.

Show starts at 9, $5, 21+

Culture Clash was a really cool experience, I hope to see the event continue to grow and prosper! Many thanks to those that helped organize it and those that came to check it out and support- I posted pics on flickr, and put some remaining jewelry pieces up on etsy as well- check ‘em out and see you next time~

Check out my new portfolio site...

This Thursday evening I’m excited to participate in a grassroots community event called Culture Clash taking place at CELLspace in San Francisco’s Portrero hood.The local artists, musicians, and film makers are all crazy talented from the links I’m seeing on the facebook page – and it’s only $5 to get in so come check it out, line up below:

8pm-2am

$5 Entry

18 to get in, 21 to drink

Artist/Vendors:

Deadeyes (zines/prints)
Noa- (live painting)
Safety First (zines/prints)
Eduardo Valadez (Food)
Zachary Sweet (Original Paintings, zines)
Suzy Hernandez (Sewn Pieces)
Maris Kaplan (Jewlery)
Tyson Johnston (Original Paintings,prints)
Michael Del Torre (Food)
Aaron Shunga (zines)
Mel Marzahl (drawings/prints/crafts)
Mary Johnson (Winter Accessories)
Realize Zine (Zines, Duh!)
Jared Roses (Original Pieces)

Music:

RNB MILLIONARIES w/ Alt Burlesque by Hayley Moonbeam
Fine Steps (Sacramento)
Archibald Barbarian (Secret Side Walk)
Beat Casso
Moe! Staiano (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum)
DJ Joseph Rosenberry (Lower Bottoms Funk Party)

&and&

#sicksadworld dj’s

GuMMyBeAR (Disaro)
Neto187 (Hoodstock)

Film:

“Sorry I Like To Party” by Eliseo Cabrera & Erik Stinson
“The Mongoosnuffle Shuffle Rag” by Emily Alden Foster
“МОКРОУС 3Д” by Nastia Voynovskaya and Nadya Voynovskaya
“Untitled” By Donghoon Han
“The Creature That Once Was a Man” by Anthony A. Russell