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Contact:
Dave
Email: dave@pon.net
For immediate release
August 5, 2010
LAVA's August wild weekend celebrates culture and history in
Downtown Los
Angeles
WHAT: On Saturday August 28 and Sunday August 29, members of LAVA (The
Los Angeles Visionaries Association) present four eclectic downtown
cultural happenings, including Esotouric's The Lowdown on Downtown bus
tour, a 25th Anniversary Night Stalker Murders tour from Eastside
Desmadre, LAVA's monthly Sunday Salon at Clifton's Cafeteria featuring a
talk from David Kipen about his new bookshop/ lending library Libros
Schmibros in Boyle Heights, and a rare chance to see David Caldwell's
multi-media performance installation War Child Show in his Arts District
loft. COST: Two of the four events are free (War Child Show and Sunday
Salon). MORE INFO:
http://lavatransforms.org and the individual links
below
LOS ANGELES- Launched in February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the
founding Director and Curator of the Downtown Art Walk non-profit--the
creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is
fast establishing itself as one of the city's most intriguing arts
collectives, with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban
events and a growing list of notable Visionary contributors.
And during the last weekend in August, the LAVA calendar is packed with
four incredible Downtown events (two of them free) reflecting the
group's eclectic diversity, with something to delight and inspire
anybody looking for a memorable cultural outing. The events play out in
this order...
1) Esotouric's Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown
bus tour, Saturday 8/28, 11am-3pm, $58, departs from Philippe. Info
http://lavatransforms.org/lowdownaugust10
Join LAVA co-founder Richard Schave, the founding director of the
Downtown LA Art Walk non-profit, on a tour that reveals the secret
history, and the fascinating future, of this most beguiling LA
neighborhood. THE LOWDOWN ON DOWNTOWN is a guided social history of the
mysterious, complex and rapidly evolving center of L.A., a thriving
neighborhood that was intentionally depopulated in the 1950s and is
currently experiencing an extraordinary rebirth. Everyone complains L.A.
lacks a center -- this tour explains why. Passengers will visit
exquisite architectural gems, including some seldom seen by the general
public, but they'll also enjoy a sophisticated analysis of the economic
and social tools used to rebuild downtown, learn how gentrification
sprung up on the city's meanest streets with all the conflicts that go
along with a community's socio-economic shift, meet creative residents
and explore unique destinations. Featured locations include the
intentionally depopulated Bunker Hill and its Angels Flight funicular
railway, Grand Central Market, the concrete design disaster Pershing
Square (with its tribute to novelist John Fante), European-style dining
alley St. Vincent's Court, the lyrical glass-topped Mercantile Arcade
Building (an exact replica of a London landmark). Get on the bus for the
real Lowdown on Downtown, as no one but Esotouric's Richard Schave can
reveal it.
2) 25th Anniversary of the Capture of Richard Ramirez "The Night
Stalker" Guided Tour, Sunday 8/29, 12pm-4pm, $25. Info
http://lavatransforms.org/nightstalker
Join LAVA Visionaries Al Guerrero and Crimebo the Clown for the debut of
an incredible new crime tour by a provocative new tour company. To
commemorate the 1985 capture of the infamous Los Angeles serial killer
Richard Ramirez, Eastside Desmadre Tours will conduct a guided
walking/public bus tour to explore the downtown L.A. haunts and
dwellings of the "The Night Stalker." Included in the tour is a visit to
the East L.A. street where he was captured, as well as interviews with
local witnesses involved in his apprehension.
3) LAVA's monthly Sunday Salon, Sunday 8/29, 12pm-2pm, Free, Clifton's
Cafeteria, Downtown. Info
http://lavatransforms.org/salon810
On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals
to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton's Cafeteria for a
loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations
and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. August's theme
is literature, and the Salon features a presentation from Visionary
David Kipen, former head of literature for the NEA who recently opened
Libros Schmibros, a free lending library and bookstore in Boyle Heights.
David will discuss his vision for the space and the challenges facing
L.A.'s booklovers as libraries are closed due to lack of funding, in
addition to other literary discussions to be announced.
4) War Child Show, Sunday 8/29, 7pm-9pm, Free, David Caldwell's Loft at
454 Seaton St., Arts District. Info
http://lavatransforms.org/warchild810
LAVA Visionary David Caldwell presents a rare (and free) presentation
his War Child Show on the evening of LAVA's monthly Sunday Salon,
featuring wine, snacks and a most unusual multi-media art presentation.
Doors open 7pm, show starts around 8pm. ABOUT THE SHOW: "War Child is a
Monumental Sculpture. An Installation in the form of a Magically
Elaborate Altar. 14 feet high, 40 feet wide, and 26 feet deep. It gives
Birth to a 40 minute experience. A Video, Sound, and Light Show
Performance. The Video Juxtaposes Manipulated Images, Of Nature,
Civilization, Creation, and Destruction. War Child's 3 Dimensional and
Technical Wizardry entice the Audience on a Journey. The Paradigm of
Duality, That Shapes Human Existence. A Synthesis of Multiple Systems,
War Child becomes a Living, Breathing, Speaking, Organic Entity. All of
the Technology is Embedded, and Fully Integrated into the Performance.
The Living Installation Impacts, Space, Sight, Sound, and Memory. A
Shifting, Constantly Changing Environment, Envelops the Audience, and
Transports Them, to Another Dimension."
Interested Angelenos are encouraged to come out and be part of some or
all of these LAVA events celebrating the city and encouraging
connections.
ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative
professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks
to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's
creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring
it in their work. Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM
COOPER -- proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and until recently the
Director and Curator of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk -- LAVA brings
together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers.
The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes
cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, artist and Eastside historian AL
GUERRERO, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, avant garde fashion
maven A. LAURA BRODY, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ,
back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker and festival
promoter ALLISON ANDERS, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON
SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven
ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture
historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master
puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI,
826LA events manager CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE
CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, green
sculptor DONALD GIALANELLA, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY,
visual artist ELENA MARY SIFF, documentarian and exploitation film
historian ELIJAH DRENNER, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD,
photographer GARY LEONARD, pop critic and outsider artist GENE SCULATTI,
film and fashion historian HALA PICKFORD, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER,
theater director HOLLY WITHAM, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger
JAVIER CABRAL, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, musician and composer
of silent film scores JIMI CABEZA DE VACA, social historian JOAN RENNER,
journalist and author JOHN BUNTIN,Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES,
performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO,
"Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, esoteric scholar
and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, author and broadcaster MANNY PACHECO,
President of the new LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes MIGUEL ANGEL CORZO,
poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, , theater director NICHOLAS HOSKING,
L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and
impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL
NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, 3-D photography expert RAY 3D ZONE,
historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist
ROSS LIPMAN, Boyle Heights ghost hunter SARAH TROOP, social networking
mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, painter/gallerist SUSAN DOBAY, Warhol star and
writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, and hat designer and
multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON.
Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at
http://lavatransforms.org/apply
To learn more about LAVA, please visit
http://www.lavatransforms.org
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