A conscious consumer checks out an artivist's vending booth at December's Anti-Mall

​For the past ten years, LA Chicano All-Stars (as we like to call them) have put together a community event known as the 'Anti-Mall' every December. The annual "People B4 Profit Marketplace" brings artists, musicians, craft and food vendors together in one place to celebrate conscious consuming and it's coming to OC on Saturday!

The event's roots trace back to activist connections made in Chiapas with Mexico's Zapatista rebels. "Since my very first visit there in 1996, I talked to activist and musician Rosa Martha Zarate," says Anti-Mall co-founder and lead producer Laura Palomares. "We wanted to help the Zapatistas and instead of just donating money, they asked us to sell things for them." Since that visit and every subsequent trip back, Palomares would return with products from cooperatives and set up vending booths wherever she could in and around LA. More >>

​On Saturday the Acrobatics Everyday crew throws on another inspired concert at UC Irvine, with Old Time Relijun member Arrington de Dionyso making another appearance after coming through 2010's edition of the Open Melody festival. 

De Dionyso's tour partner is the powerful Larkin Grimm, whose third album Parplar we reviewed a few years back.  Her latest, the self-released Soul Retrieval, is another lovely effort -- featuring among other guests legendary producer Tony Visconti -- and we caught up with her on the road by phone, with background interjections from her young son Otis:More >>

www.ThomasMcConville.com

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Two things pop into my head when I hear the term "musical joke." One is something along the lines of Tenacious D or those classic Adam Sandler Saturday Night Live sketches. You know--stuff that's meant to be funny.

The other is a lot less positive and brings to mind the word "trainwreck." We've all heard/seen this sort of musical joke, usually in the form of a teenage garage band playing a show three weeks after buying instruments, our crazy uncles thinking they are on stage at the Staples Center when in fact they are botching a Bob Dylan tune on their couches or Madonna.

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​If you think that you know Charlie Murphy from his entertaining and hysterical stories from the Chappelle show, think again.

Charlie has a ton of huge movies under his belt, a stand-up career that's been entertaining crowds worldwide for over ten years, and this Thursday through Sunday, he is bringing his "real" style of comedy to the Irvine Improv!


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​Christmas is a lame holiday celebrating the fake birthday of some guy who probably never even existed. And that's just one reason why it sucks, which is why January 8 is a way better day to get your party on.

For those who don't know, January 8 is Elvis Presley's birthday. Depending on which camp you reside in, either Elvis would have been 77 years young this Sunday or he is turning 77 years young (by that, I mean either you think he died Aug. 16, 1977, or you think he is still alive). Personally, no straight man on this planet loves the King of Rock 'n' Roll more than I do (although rumor has it Elvis is even more popular on Uranus), but even I don't think he's still living. I sure as hell wish he was, but that's another story. 

A few years ago, some friends coined a term called "Elvismas" and instantly I knew they were onto something. As a total atheist-leaning agnostic who hates standing in crowded lines at the mall even more than he hates all the religious aspects of Christmas, instantly I knew that Elvismas was something I could get behind.

I understand this holiday is new to you, so to help I'm offering these five tips that will get you in the Elvismas spirit. And if none of these work, you could always fall back on the unspoken sixth rule, which more or less equates to getting shitty drunk until you pass out. But I guess you don't really need Elvismas to do that.
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Jeremy Eichenbaum

​Champagne. Kisses at midnight. Some dude throwing up.

These are what we've come to expect at New Year's Eve parties, which is why I'm headed to the Blue Cafe in Long Beach to see the Spell, Ambush Freqs and Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel. I'm no psychic (although I play one on this blog), so here's what I'm planning on seeing this Saturday evening.
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Ali Lerman

​DJ Quik, Suga Free, Flesh-N-Bone
December 16th, 2011
City National Grove of Anaheim

If you think the crowd at a DJ Quik concert in 2011 will bring out an audience full of O.G. fans, think again.

Friday night's DJ Quik show at the City National Grove of Anaheim brought out an all ages crowd--and believe me, it was all ages. All walks of life made this show great for one of my favorite hobbies, people watching.

As expected, it was a complete sell-out. There were pimp and ho scenarios a-plenty, with most of the "hos" looking like they were freezing on that windy night. If you can believe it, two people even wore the same leopard ankle bootie platforms! I could go on and on about there being a 10-year-old in the audience, and the amount of drunk and stoned kids in attendance, but I'd rather get to the show which was supposed to start at 8 p.m. (Well, it did, but I'll explain after the jump.)

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​Jeffrey Ross is best known as a shit talker. A master roaster, if you will. Rather, "The Roastmaster General." With a hilarious book under his belt, "I Only Roast the Ones I Love: Busting Balls Without Burning Bridges," Jeff is all that and then some. With upcoming projects like a movie starring Robert De Niro and a pilot in the works for Comedy Central, Jeffrey Ross is just getting warmed up. Scary, isn't it? Give yourself an early Hanukkah gift this year (even if you aren't a Jew) and see him grace the stage at the Brea Improv this weekend. But trust us, no one is safe.

I just watched your movie Patriot Act recently and I apologize I took so long to see it. It was amazing. I don't know how I missed it.

Oh wow! Well thank you so much and I appreciate you watching it! It was sort of an underground thing. It wasn't something I made on purpose. I made sort of an accidental film by going on a trip and seeing things I wouldn't be able to describe. I just started rolling.

I also caught you on Rocco's Dinner Party ...

Oh my god! You really did your homework!

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Kevin Scanlon

​DJ Quik (aka David Blake) started making great music in the early '90s, and has been pumping out hits ever since. But Quik's been controversial over the years and has gone through his share of highs and lows. Now, though, he seems more confident in his skill than ever, which only means the best is yet to come from the Compton native. Ahead of his show with Suga Free at the City National Grove of Anaheim this Friday, Quik talked over the phone with us about setting the record straight about Eazy-E, why he feels like Batman, and the secret to his luxurious hair.

First of all, I've seen you several (eleven) times and your show is always brilliant! I assume there will be more of that at The Grove?

We're gonna kill that! Just let it be known that we're absolutely going to murder that! Everybody's gonna get their money's worth whether it's ten people or ten thousand.

Umm, I'm sure it'll be packed but I don't think The Grove holds ten thousand. Haha...

[Laughs.] It's only like a three thousand seater but if two hundred people come, it's gonna be the best thing they've ever seen!

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​This Sunday, as part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, The GRAMMY Museum, along with Museum of Latin American Art, presents performances by and discussions with Little Willie G of legendary R&B group Thee Midniters and vocalist-producer-poet Rubén Guevara and his new band the Eastside Luvers in celebration of MOLAA's MEX/LA: Mexican Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985 exhibit.

Curated by Rubén Ortiz-Torres in association with Jesse Lerner, MEX/L.A. focuses on different notions of "Mexicanidad" within modernist and contemporary art in LA. They say the exhibit tells a history both of L.A. and Mexico that is often not seen as such.
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