A little PR for a ballet this weekend in Santa Monica
October 21, 2023 § Leave a comment
Cesar Ramirez Castellano stars in THE PHOENIX opening this Sunday.
Read about it at Broadway World.
Award-Winning Hollywood Choreographer And Dancer To Debut New Story Ballet In Santa Monica
The LA contemporary ballet company REALM founded by CHASEN GREENWOOD presents its first full-story ballet with a nod to fantastical films and an original score by musical protégé Taylor Briggs
SANTA MONICA, California — The Westside Ballet Black Box Theatre presents a brand-new live ballet, The Phoenix, written and produced by Chasen Greenwood October 22 and 29.
Chasen Greenwood is a rising star in the world of theatrical performance. In recent years, he’s gone from winning the title of Regional Dance America Southwest’s “Best Young Choreographer” to performing in and choreographing Hollywood movies. Along the way, he has collaborated with Lady Gaga’s choreographer, Richy Jackson, for a Superbowl-screened Xbox TV commercial. In 2024, his choreography will appear in the Al Pacino starring movie Billy Knight. Working on the production of this movie in 2023 was a major undertaking, yet he also found time to write and direct a brand new story ballet, which debuts on October 22nd at the new Westside Ballet Black Box Theatre. A second performance is also scheduled for October 29th.
Tickets are available at therealmscompany.com.
Ana Milena Varón also interviewed Cesar for EFE.
The Detroit News for Wyland
October 16, 2023 § Leave a comment
Wyland argues that covering his art is a violation of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. VARA grants artists the right to claim their work and prevent others from “any intentional distortion…of that work which would be prejudicial to his or her honor or reputation.”
Wyland, Detroit’s whale mural artist, calls for protection of public art.
Rescue Husky in need of saving
October 13, 2023 § Leave a comment
If you are in SoCal and can house a rescue dog, please save this beautiful baby.
AskMen for Indigo Stray Conger
October 4, 2023 § Leave a comment
“Good sex requires a balance of two factors — a feeling of safety and feeling of novel excitement,” says Indigo Stray Conger, licensed marriage and family therapist and certified sex therapist with Mile High Psychotherapy and ThatSexQuiz.com.
Thanks to Alex Manley for covering this with my client’s input. Read more at AskMen.
https://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa_100/104_love_secrets.html
Why don’t we have a major Hip Hop Hall of Fame ceremony?
November 20, 2022 § Leave a comment
This year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony did not disappoint per usual. So many talented people were celebrated like Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Eurythmics, Jimmy Iovine, JUDAS PRIEST—and rightfully so. They are exceptional musicians and iconic members of the music industry today. But, categorizing all of those acts as rock, I think , is doing a disservice to each genre that should have its own big celebration.
Hear me out.
Isn’t it about time for a big Hip Hop Hall of Fame ceremony of its own? There are so many deserving artists in that category that would be great to see honored in a similar way but more nuanced acts might get overlooked in this genre bending show’s format. Like all of the artists Eminem listed in his award acceptance speech. Salt-N-Pepa—who’ve influenced so many—deserve an award celebration too.
Whatever the formula for deciding who is rock and who isn’t is leaving A LOT of deserving artists out.
Will Link Wray ever be honored for his contributions to rock? His power-chord is widely credited with influencing some of rock’s most distinct sounds.
According to his biography “Wray was the creator of the power-chord and was one of the first musicians to experiment with both distortion and the burning fuzz-tone guitar sound in his instrumental recordings; his harsh and raw, yet potent and effective simple guitar style inspired such rock music genres as heavy metal, punk, thrash, and alternative rock.”
He deserves a nod, but bigger contemporary acts overshadow his historical contributions to the genre.
I love hip-hop, country, pop, R&B—all of those genres and believe they ALL deserve deeper dives into their musical histories. Each contain unique musical legacies and worthy contributors that are overlooked in the mixed event.
If you really want to diversify the show, bring more genre specific hall of fame ceremonies to the stage and our screens. Broaden our musical horizons with more in depth shows celebrating each of those genres. Rock and most of the other genres are made all around the world. The artists deserve to be honored by their respective schools of sound. And we, the masses, would benefit from more music celebrated on the stage and our small screens.
My Shoot with Edward
May 20, 2020 § 1 Comment
A few months ago I was lucky enough to become acquainted with a local photographer named Edward Duarte at a crowded bar during Downtown LA’s monthly Art Walk. Hipsters lined the walkways and I don’t remember what brand of funk was playing but it was a perfect mix of old school in this new setting, for me. Maybe it was James Brown but it escapes me. Let’s just say it was James Brown for effects sake, shall we? We exchanged some silly jokes and smiles and he slipped me his business card kindly offering to shoot me. Little did I know how seasoned Edward was when I slipped his card into my back pocket.
A few months later I finally collected the balls to take him up on his offer; I mean it took a nudge from my inner child to call him after seeing his portfolio, which you can see here.
On the day of our shoot I remember having a mini melt down trying to decide what to wear. It wasn’t glamorous, it was chaotic. After trying combinations of every one of my pant, dress, short, skirt and capri outfits, I decided on four basic black and white pieces to switch around. Then I met him at his Downtown LA studio.
It was exactly what I expected. The sun was shining through his wall to wall loft style windows. A bed covered only in white sheets against two picture windows screamed — get naked. Naturally, I got nervous while retouching my hair and make up, gagging a little bit but it passed when he turned up the Rolling Stones. CAN YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING put a smile on my face being the easy to please kind of girl that I am. And we started shooting. It was beyond awkward for the first half hour — not knowing how to pose, not feeling at ease with him. Don’t judge though, I’m really shy underneath it all, OK? He suggested some tequila, so I took a couple shots and it helped. And it was liberating. And it was loud music, a camera shooting my every move, in a Downtown LA loft. And I was young and it was fun. I HIGHLY recommend giving in to these experiences if they ever come along.
Here are a few of my favorite shots from the two hour shoot.
Beats Music: The Latest In Music Pairing Technology
January 20, 2014 § Leave a comment
photo credit: sarmaaye.com
Beats by Dre has been working on a new music service that launches tomorrow (Tuesday, January 21) and it stands to rival the services of Spotify and paid music pairing by Pandora.
I love everything out of the veteran rap star’s headphone empire, so I can’t wait to see what his team has done in terms of advancing music algorithms.
Beats Music Technology
According to Wired, “Your age is especially important to Beats Music. Tell it when you were born, and it figures out when you were in high school. The music of your youth — the stuff that was popular when you first got a Walkman or an iPod, the band that made it big when you got your driver’s license, the record that was all over MTV just before your freshman year of college — is the music with the strongest memories for you. It’s a fixed point in time that’s the most culturally and musically relevant to you. And it’s being crunched by the company’s algorithm.”
If that’s the case, I can’t wait to test out its 80’s pop mix.
“Things are coming together magnificently. #BeatsMusic is blowing my mind right now. Its personalized recommendations are perfect,” says Arjan Writes the Head of Pop/Dance Programming at Beats Music.
Give me some Exposé and Taylor Dane, OKAY? In the meantime, do follow all that is relevant to the Beats crew on Twitter.
Have a happy Monday, my babies!
Surviving a Break-In
May 20, 2013 § Leave a comment
On the morning of December 10, 2009, at approximately 11:45 a.m., a man knocked on my front door. I thought it was a salesman, so I did not answer. I looked out and saw a man walking away, he didn’t look like a salesman, he was wearing baggy clothes and had messy hair.
About 30 minutes later, I was in my room when I noticed my bedroom door start to open; it stopped. I heard whispering; I got to my door and saw two men running down the stairs and then jump out of a window.
My heart raced; I ran down stairs and closed the open window and locked it. I then ran back upstairs and called 911. I told the dispatcher my home was broken into. While I described what the assailants were wearing, I secured all of the unlocked windows downstairs.
Then I heard a knock at the front door, it was a third suspect. I peeked through the curtains and described to the dispatcher what he was wearing and the car that was left running in front of the house.
Officers flooded the area, and quickly spotted the car at a nearby intersection.
After investigation the three were arrested and charged with burglary and other charges.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics says around 40 percent of annual household burglaries in the United States are not forced entries, meaning someone was able to walk, climb or crawl inside of houses almost as easily as if the owners left a key in the door.
Lock your doors and windows. Two burglars got into my house through an unlocked window. All of my backyard windows were unlocked at the time.
Secure gates. Just because you have a gate, doesn’t mean you’re completely secure. Lock everything.
Leave a light on. Discourage break-ins by making it look like you’re home if you are out.
Lastly, be vigilant about what is going on in your neighborhood. You can prevent this from happening.
Who is Banksy??
October 27, 2011 § Leave a comment
Thierry Guetta's LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL piece on Highland in Hollywood
Cruising through Hollywood late Tuesday night, running errands, this mural pictured here catches my eye. What a great idea. Life is beautiful, really it is. The message rings true in more ways than one, and the symbol of it painted on the wall is expansive and beautiful in its own right.
Like all art, it’s subjective and meaningful to you, to me and to all of those who see it. So, who painted this? I did some investigating and found that this mural is by Thierry Guetta, a French filmmaker who is known for incorporating irony into his pop style graffiti.
Hm, interesting, his work sounds familiar no? Any connection to Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist that has been underground for years? There is. The documentary film about Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop hints at Guetta being Banksy’s “biggest work of art” and Guetta’s street name is Mr. Brainwash – hint, hint!
In my humble opinion, their work is too similar for it not to come from the same artist.
Guetta is currently in Los Angeles, creating his murals throughout the greater Hollywood area and yes I’m looking-out for the next piece. If you are an art lover too, now is a great time to see the work of the most mysterious and creative artist of our time.
Ronny Morris Talks About the Future of Music
March 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
Who is Morris Music?
Growing in the industry
“We are a very creative group people, who are constantly sharing ideas” says Morris. “We grow with the success of our artists. We ask ourselves where music can fit a niche, who can be touched by the music we promote, and where certain music has not yet touched ground.”
He goes on, “We are passionate about creating win/win situations and feel it’s about the experience, not just quick decisions.”
The label actively recruits new talent. Morris plans to attend the 2010 SXSW Music and Media Conference in Austin to look for emerging artists.
“The artists and the clients we serve are the foundation of our success, and we grow with them. We believe in the quality of music that we deliver, and are always looking for new artists that share that ideal with us.”
Morris on music today
“The music industry is a very exciting place to be right now. The rules have changed. There are a lot of new companies emerging with new approaches to the business, Live Nation being an example, and the industry is rearranging itself.”
Live Nation emerged in 2005 as a start up music label that teamed with Ticketmaster. It has since become one of the largest promotion houses in the country.
“From the business side, we are exploring different avenues to create revenue from the music that we sell. No one can depend on CD and download sales” he confesses. “The live scene is a good alternative, but live shows are not a total resolution. Touring costs, and the audience has to be there, which can be difficult for emerging artists.”
Since 2001, the music industry has taken huge losses due to piracy and peer to peer sharing sites like Kazaa and Napster.
According to ZDNet “the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports 2.8 million pirated CD-R discs were seized in the United States last year.”
“So many people in music have been laid off as well, which is troubling, but it opens the doors for new collaboration, especially for us independents. New creative partnerships are emerging, and we all have the opportunity to learn from each other and gain from each others’ experience.”
“Even when it’s winter, a wise farmer plans for spring!”
Getting inspired
“Everything about music inspires me. There are simple lyric ideas that pop up in my mind, or a melody line that I think of when I’m riding across town on my bike. There is text that is born from outrage or sadness, or something in my environment shifting.”
He continues, “Recording is a fantastic and nerve-wracking part of music creation, like a chef working on a meal that he’s really excited about. Sometimes you leave feeling tired and used, but can’t wait to come back into the studio the next day, and I think that’s inspirational.”
Morris writes music that is featured on TV shows “The Ghost Whisperer” and “Brothers and Sisters”.
His collaboration with Swedish producer, Adam Kviman, earned him Hollywood Music in Media’s Best Production / Producer of the Year award – making it his second consecutive HMM award win.
“Music is a lifesaver, and I can’t say enough about it. People make love to music, dance to music, get aggressive to music, and cry with music. It’s in delivery rooms when people are born and can be heard at funerals. We are even healed by music. I don’t think it gets enough credit.”
Having integrity
“It’s important to me that music is treated with integrity and an honest approach” says Morris. “A lot of today’s releases and international shows like American Idol dilute the significance that so many of us in the field dedicate ourselves to, and I think it’s unfortunate to twist a gorgeous, emotive medium into something so cheap. I think music has to come from the heart. No one wants it to be an empty package in a fast-food wrapper.”
Morris Music currently represents six recording artists locally and internationally. Its headquarters are in Santa Monica, California with satellite offices in the UK and Seattle. More Morris Music news can be found on their Facebook fan page.
The Archives of My Mind 