Tonight Chango hosts Anarchy Jordan. He'll unveil from his bag of tricks folk music, political sing-alongs, and incendiary videos mocking everything from global warming to GW. Expect a free exchange of stencil art techniques, anti-war graffiti and a live free or buy trying attitude. A good time is sure to be had by all or at least a healthy debate over your nightly chai lattes.



ANARCHY JORDAN presents YOUR VIOLENT DESIRES
LIVE LIVE LIVE LIVE (you decide how to pronounce it)
with his MUSIC, MOVIES, AND MORE

Friday, Jul. 20th 9:00pm
Chango Coffee House
1600 Echo Park Ave.
Echo Park, 90026

hey young fella, dada is not an art movement.
Be there or be viciously circular.

Labels: events, music, politics, videos

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) is holding its annual issues meeting and election kick-off this upcoming Saturday at the Bellevue Recreation Center. If you've ever been curious to what goes down during these meetings Saturday morning you'll get a good chance to meet the major players around our fair neighborhood, observe the election process, and get to know your neighbors' gripes at the open mic.

I've never been disappointed at these meetings. The turnout is always a batch of concerned citizens and passionate people from all walks of life. The common ground is they walk the sidewalks of Silver Lake with the rest of us. The best aspect of the Council is that it is a sounding board for the neighborhood. All concerns are taken seriously and everyone is encouraged to get their voice heard by attending meetings and voting. I've found that just being bale to observe and be another neighbor in a an empty seat is a good statement to start. So SLNC is luring us more apathetic folks in with a FREE breakfast at 9am.

The Issues meeting begins at 10am. After a presentation regarding Emergency Preparedness, it's an open mic for anyone to step up and let the SLNC Governing Board know what are the important issues that SLNC should be addressing. Then it's all followed by the SLNC Annual Election Kick-Off. You can meet all the candidates and maybe dream of throwing your hat in the race.


Saturday, July 14th
Speak Out Silver Lake! SLNC Annual Issue Meeting and Election Kick-Off
Bellevue Recreation Center
826 Lucile Avenue
9:00 am - Breakfast with the Board
10:00 am - Speak Out Silver Lake! Emergency Preparedness and open mic
11:30 am - SLNC Election Kick-Off

Labels: events, local, politics

I like reminiscing what making Friday night plans were like before cellphones. You had to actually make plans. If you invariably got stuck in traffic one evening and missed a movie, life would go on. But you would still be inclined to go to the theater to meet your date and apologize in person. Nowadays whenever I make plans to hang out with someone it's never for a specific time. It's always just, "Call me on my cell when you get there."

On a related plane of thought, imagine your day without a computer. What would happen to the world if for just 24 hrs. you shutdown your computer? International Shutdown Day asks you to participate in just such an experiment. And while holding it on a Saturday seems a little weak (most bosses would shoot someone during the week if they missed replying to an email) I applaud their efforts from a purely environmental stance. California's powergrid will breathe a heavy sigh of relief once you actually unplug your appliances from the wall.

The comments on Shutdown Days' site are definitely revealing to the state of international computer users. Most people's first responses are "do video games count?" And if asked what they'll do on the day they say "go outside". As if the outdoors are eliminated from your daily activities when you can stay online all day.

In the words of Le Tigre, encourage all your agoraphobic friends to "Get off the Internet!"
If just for one day.

Labels: environmental, politics

This morning at Egret Park Mayor Villarogioa and Councilman Reyes unveiled the LA River Revitalization Plan.

Workshops have been held over the last 16 months to determine a plan to green 32 miles of the LA river that flows through downtown. Now included in the Revitalization Plan are processes to modify the river's channel itself in order to sustain a healthy environment. Along with the city identifying flood concerns, there's also a sensitivity to urban development along the river. A plan to make a walking path along the river has been in the works since the mid 90s with controversy but ultimately good intentions.
Contrary to what the Mulhollands made Angelenos think, the LA river has always been a natural waterway, dry in the summer and protecting from floods during the rain. Many neighborhoods can benefit from a revitalization in the forms of parks and prettier scenery but everyone especially benefits from an environment protected from over-development and species degradation.

You can voice your opinions and hear more info at these upcoming hearings sponsored by The City Project.

Saturday, February 24, 2007:
10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Hollenbeck Middle School
2510 E. 6th St., Boyle Heights

Tuesday, February 27:
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Canoga Park High School Auditorium
6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Canoga Park

Wednesday, February 28:
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Metropolitan Water District Board Room
700 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles

Labels: environmental, local, politics

A: Because Mayor Villaraigosa plans to make LA a WiFi city.

Via Laist.com, Villaraigosa and team kicked off the first stage today which is to hire a tech expert to design the infrastructure needed to make every corner of our city a free wireless internet access point. The plan is to have a city wide high-speed wireless network by 2009. A plan in the works exists downtown already. You can access a "hot spot" at Pershing Square, for example, for a small amount of time once you log in to LA WiFi. They call it the "unwired Pershing Square" now. Like a college library, these internet spots are not encouraging 24/7 use, just quick ways to access free info. Villaraigosa hopes to address a handful of issues with this large scale plan such as public building needs, internet in the classroom, internet for the poor, and emergency use. Imagine - in a couple years if you were stuck downtown in an earthquake you could just find the nearest Red Cross station or Google for up to the minute facts.

Labels: local, politics

Ah... Skylight Books. How I love to linger and peruse you aisle by aisle. And now you're even hosting one of my favorite poets of all time. Formally known as LeRoi Jones, then inspired by Malcolm X gave up his slave name, Amiri Baraka was an important voice in the San Francisco Beat scene. Black History books and plays also fall under his impressive body of work. He reads from his new collection of short stories Tales of the Out and Gone Thursday at 7:30pm.

Amiri Baraka in person
Thursday Feb. 15 7:30pm
Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont
Los Feliz


A Poem for Speculative Hipsters
Amiri Baraka

He had got, finally,
to the forest
of motives. There were no
owls, or hunters. No Connie Chatterleys
resting beautifully
on their backs, having casually
brought socialism
to England.
Only ideas,
and their opposites
Like,
he was really
nowhere.

Labels: books, events, politics

The Silver Lake Improvement Association will hold an important community meeting tonight regarding a proposed homeless facility in the neighborhood.

The 975 Vendome Building has been sold, and the owners are planning to convert it into a homeless facility. It's that large brick apartment building right on Vendome & Sunset Blvd. across the street from Club Los Globos. The block has historically housed a diverse group of people, and had it's share of problems, including the devastating fire in December of '05 that vacated the majority of the residents. Is a homeless shelter what the neighborhood needs?

The Silver Lake Improvement Association is not unfriendly to the plight of the homeless. The meeting will take into consideration the other facilities that we already have in Silver Lake including Regency Manor on the corner of Robinson and Descanso and the new facility on the corner of Hoover and London. Without taking a stand one way or the other, the SLIA would like to offer this forum for those who wish to express their views or hear those of others.

Message from SLIA: "We hope to have a good turn out of our members and neighbors to give us their views and opinions of this proposed permanent, supportive facility slated to house about 40 formerly homeless, mentally disabled adults. The property was purchased on the private market, and it's a done deal; however, the application process to get additional funds to rehabilitate the property and the search for a service provider has yet to be completed. If you have a concern about this property one way or the other, this community meeting is the place to have your voice heard. BE there if you CARE!"

Thursday, Jan. 18
7:00-9:00pm
Russian Orthodox Meeting Hall
650 Micheltorena Street

Labels: local, politics

This past November the 32 acres of downtown Los Angeles known as The Cornfields was saved from building development once more thanks to the City Project.
I thank the City Project for providing me with these eye-opening facts:
- In Los Angeles, children of color living in poverty with no access to cars have the worst access to parks and recreation.
- Too many people live more than half a mile from the nearest park throughout the region of Los Angeles.
- Children of color disproportionately live in the California state assembly districts with the highest levels of child obesity and the worst access to parks and recreation. The levels of obesity are intolerably high for children throughout the region ranging from 23% to 40%.
- This is the first generation in the history of the country in which children will have a lower life expectancy than their parents if present trends in obesity and other diseases related to inactivity continue.

The City Project calls on a new form of social action: to Green LA. In the past six years, The City Project has spearheaded efforts to create new urban parks; to establish schools as centers of their communities; and to influence the investment of billions of dollars for public works projects in under-served communities.

The Daily Breeze reported:

"Robert Garcia, executive director of the City Project, a nonprofit group that focuses on parks, health and transit issues for low-income Los Angeles residents, said a pedestrian trail and bus route should link [the Los Angeles State Historic Park] with El Pueblo to the south, and another state park planned on the east bank of the Los Angeles River to the north. 'They should not be treated as isolated, separate parks but as one continuous parkway system,' he said... 'This is a wonderful opportunity. Los Angeles is hungry for its history."

Other victories for the group include preserving El Rio de Los Angeles State Park at Taylor Yard, 2 square miles of Baldwin Hills Park, and a dedicated 100 acres to Ascot Hills Park in East L.A. Their goals for next year include: to influence billions of dollars from resource bonds passed in November 2006 for parks, schools, housing, transit, clean water, and local jobs, to restore the Great Wall of Los Angeles, to Build an urban environmental movement that puts children and families first, and serves the needs of Latinos and diverse communities in ways no one else has. What does that mean? It means they hold politicians like Villaraigosa and Schwarzenegger to their word when they pass Green bills. It means there are organizations out there who care more about the cultural impact of development in Los Angeles than loft space.
It may be a tad late for year-end tax deductions but you can give to The City Project here.

Labels: environmental, local, politics

Before I get started with the holiday shopping guides, I'd like to offset the large amount of consuming done this time of year by supporting a worthy challenge. The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because that's the day the major department stores get out of the red due to all the sales on the first official holiday shopping day. What was once the day where you could get that item on little Timmy's list for a bargain has turned into the biggest display of Americans as consumption fanatics. It's been reported that this year the stores will open even earlier, some right at 12:01 am the get the shopping started with a bang. Across the country people will finish stuffing themselves with turkey and stuffing and then head out to the malls to wait in line through the night in order to be the first people through the doors. In past years, people have been trampled on Black Friday, anxiety and heart attacks are not uncommon by shoppers and store staff alike. Adbusters urges us to stop the mass consumption all together. I like a good deal myself and know that Black Friday is not the only day to get it nor is a giant department store the only place to find gifts. So the plan is simple. On November 24 buy nothing. My mom and I have celebrated in the past by sleeping in late, eating thanksgiving leftovers and going for a hike. Other buy nothing supporters across the country are reporting this year to cut up credit cards or dress up as zombies and parade the mall with the legions of mindless shoppers. There are many reasons for joining in. Off-set what may go down as the year global warming really hit. Escape the marketing mind games brought on by commercials and embrace your own holiday vision. Be it a non-stressed day at home with the fam, or a full-on protest assault, the biggest pay-off is to keep the Buy Nothing Day spirit in your heart year round and make responsible purchases if you must purchase at all.

More Info at Adbusters.org

For a great Buy Nothing Day Commercial click here.

Labels: environmental, politics, shopping

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council is holding a town hall style meeting tonight in conjunction with the other East LA neighborhoods to speak out about the city's new budget plans for the coming year. Hosted by The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Office of the Mayor, this community forum hopes to give neighborhood voices a chance to be heard. The city will outline their plan for next year, probably cutting the budget drastically. This is every local's chance to add what's missing to the city's outlook for 2007 or remove measures. If you can't make the meeting but would like to express your opinion take the mayor's survey. It's very straight-forward and enlightening to know what the city thinks should be its major improvements including fair housing, transportation, environmental protection, and security. The survey takes less than 10 minutes and appears to be a good way to make a little dent in the system before the system dents you.

Tuesday Nov. 14
6:30-9:00pm
Glassell Park Community Center (in the Public Storage building at 3750 N. Verdugo Rd. and Eagle Rock Blvd.)
From Silver Lake, take the 2 and exit Eagle Rock Blvd. and you'll see the building. There's plenty of parking.

Labels: environmental, local, politics

Tomorrow, October 5, thousands of mass protests around the country will gather for The World Can't Wait. Bush's Presidential motorcade blocking traffic on the Westside yesterday is reason enough to get angry enough to walk out and join the movement.

An abbreviated schedule
12noon Converge at Pershing Square, corner of 5th and Olive. (Red Line Metro Pershing Square stop).
Tom Morello (formerly of Rage Against The Machine) will perform.

3:00pm March Begins

5:00pm Downtown Federal Building
Speeches by:
Bob Watada - father of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first ranking officer to refuse to fight in the unjust war in Iraq
Jodie Evans - co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace
Jesse Diaz, Jr. - co-founder of the March 25th Coalition for immigrant rights. (See him in action and see why the Friends of The Border Patrol think he's such a menace.)
Michelle Phillips, Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd, and others.

Labels: events, politics