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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1

Lebron James

root for thevillain

Love or hate him, you can’t guard him. Lebron James sits with Bunker Hill and

shares his thoughts on Dwane Wade, the haters,

and his big move to Miami.

By Martin harasimowicz

2011: a music guide

the year in MusicThe most anticipatedalbums of the next 12

months.

By lukas clark-Memler

JourneY To noWHere

fashion sPreaDAllen Zaki’s first spread for Bunker Hill Magazine, fea-turing pieces by Christian Dior, Diane von Fursten-

berg, and Rachel Roy.

By allen Zaki

ON THE COVER: LEBRON JAMESPHOTOGRAPHY BY ViCTOR BaldizONCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

48

60

54

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

DEPARTMENTS

CONTENTS

6 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

THe beaT

10 | the Bristol hotelDowntown’s Hotel Bristol returns to its modern, home-like rootsBy Denise reich

14 | neW years 2.0Downtown L.A.’s historic China-town prepares tocelebrate the Year of the RabbitBy Katherine Davis

18 | taGGers’ ParaDiseCrewest aims to elevate graffiti art for patrons and taggers alikeBy eric Dzinski

THeLooKouT

22 | Wynton MarsalisUniting Jazz and Classical Music at the LA PhilBy Penny orlof f

26 | DaviD KortyCeramics and Fishing Lures from L.A.-based Artist, David KortyBy suerra feldner-shaw

30 | WalKinG into the liGhtThe electro elder statesmen of Groove Armada age gracefully with White LightBy shane Danaher

Trends

34 | DiMePieceAn interview with one of Downtown’s hottest designersBy catherine Wright

36 | trenD-settersDowntown’s best dressed denizensBy catherine Wright

TasTe

38 | sPitZStudy abroad in Little Tokyo By noah Galuten

42 | MiyaWaKiMochi means more than you thinkBy eric Dzinski

78 | feBruary Party PhotosPhotos from the Golden Globes after parties, the L.A. Art Show, and our February Launch Party.

8 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1

or our February issue, we considered several personalities for the cover, but when the op-portunity to interview one of the sporting world’s foremost talents was presented to us, it was something that we couldn’t pass up.

Lebron James—the undisputed king of modern basketball is our choice for the February issue for several reasons. First, James is integral to our celebration of Black History Month, an event that helps reflect the diversity of the Downtown community. Secondly, James will be grac-ing Downtown L.A. in person for the NBA All Star Game, an event that takes the excitement of Downtown’s sportingculture to new heights.

In the past decade, entrepreneurs and lawmakers have been working tirelessly to make Downtown L.A. an internationally competitive neighborhood. For the most part, they have suc-ceeded. There is still a ways to go, but L.A. has progressed to the point where it’s not beyond the realm of possibility for Lebron James to be seen ambling down Spring Street, or for moguls, movie stars, and industry movers to be spotted coming and going from their loft apartments.

We’re a national neighborhood, and it’s with great excite-ment that Bunker Hill Magazine is stepping to the challenge of that national attention.

Best Regards,

Toni AdzarPublisher, Bunker Hill Magazine

Check out our brand new blog, “The Scene”at bunkerhillmagazine.com for the best Downtown has to offer.

fTONI ADZARPUBLISHER

TERRENCE CHOEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ASSISTANT EDITORShane Danaher

COPY EDITORErik Jay

FASHION EDITORCatherine Wright

ART DIRECTORTerrence Cho

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSShane DanaherKatherine Davis

Eric ZdinskiSierra Feldner-Shaw

Noah GalutenMartin Harasimowicz

Penny OrloffDenise Reich

Catherine Wright

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERSVictor Baldizon

Allen Zaki

WEB DEVELOPERAndrew Jesien

SALES DIRECTORArchie Bandaryan

EVENT PRODUCTIONFlorent Sourice

EVENT COORDINATORPatricia Almanza

M A S T H E A D

Bunk er Hill Magazine448 South Hill Street, Studio 415

Los Angeles, CA 90013213.627.7710

www.bunkerhillmagazine.com

PublisherLETTER fROM THE

PICTURED: FRaNCOisE NiElly- El JuaNE

THE BEAT HISTORY

BRISTOLHOTEL

: : B Y D E N I S E R E I c h

he tiles in the D-Town Burger Bar, on the ground floor of the Hotel Bris-tol at 423 W. 8th Street, are interesting, to say the least. Near the counters a section of the original

floor from 1906, with honeycomb green and white tiles, is visible. The area with the blue and white color scheme by the windows dates back to 1920. The black and white tiles right by the entrance are less than a year old.

These three generations of floor-ing form an apt metaphor for the current state of the Bristol, where modern technol-ogy co-exists with original structural ele-ments, and a bright future is superimposed

on a sordid past. As seen on vintage postcards the origi-

nal lobby of the Bristol was cluttered with leather chairs, lush carpets, and marble pillars. The current incarnation bears little resemblance to those faded images. White-washed walls and steel mailboxes have replaced the ornate columns. The only nods to yesteryear are the grand marble staircase and the floor, although that lat-ter gleams as much as its 106-year historywill allow.

The Bristol was originally known as the Hotel Woodward. It was designed by Fred R. Dorn and constructed by the F.O. Engstrum firm in 1906. Guy K. Woodward, the hotel’s namesake and proprietor, was a former sheriff. Early advertisements

Downtown’s Hotel Bristol returns to its modern, homelike roots

11PHOTO COURTEsy OF THE BRisTOl HOTEl

The

THE AgINg HOTEl wAs fEATuRED IN THE 1999 mOvIE fIgHT Club, wHERE IT sTOOD IN fOR HElEN bONHAm CARTER’s DECREpIDT HOmE.

stressed that the hotel was fireproof, rein-forced, and technologically advanced.

In 1907 the Los Angeles Herald de-clared that the Woodward was “one of the most up-to-date family hotels in the city,” and “regarded as home by all its guests.” It quickly became a hotel of choice for upper-class families visiting Los Angeles, and hosted tea parties and card socials. Architect R.M. Schindler stayed there. A physician and his wife lived at the Wood-ward for a spell. The good doctor ran his practice from the hotel and threw soirees for his daughter.

As the decades rolled on, the Wood-ward’s status declined. The property was sold in 1920, and eventually became known as the Hotel Bristol. By the 1980s it was a Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) property, and was more likely to be noted in the crime log than on the society page.

In 1985 the Bristol’s landlords received a sizable loan for restoration from the Com-

munity Development Agency, but the prop-erty continued to deteriorate. The aging hotel was featured in the 1999 movie Fight Club, where it stood in for Helena Bonham Carter’s decrepit home. Even that was not without incident: During the shoot, a cin-ematographer was injured when an an-gry resident threw a bottle at the crew. In describing the property, the Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations was emphatic: “Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted to stay there.”

The last SRO tenants were evicted unceremoniously in 2004 by a developer who intended to reinvent the property as a boutique hotel. The plan clashed with a covenant attached to the 1985 CRA loan agreement, which required the Bristol to remain a low-income residence un-til 2015. A string of lawsuits ensured that the CRA covenant was enforced, the de-veloper put the property back on the market, and the [continued on page 76]

12 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTO COURTEsy OF THE BRisTOl HOTEl

NEw YEARs 2.0: : B Y K at h E R I N E D a v I S

owntown L.A.’s China-town is always a lively cross-section of history, diversity, and culture and this month it will become even livelier. According to

the Chinese lunisolar calendar, February marks the beginning of 4708, year of the rabbit. Chinese New Year, the most impor-tant holiday in Chinese traditions will offi-cially take place on the 3rd, but the celebra-

tions in L.A.’s Chinatown will last almost two weeks.

“There’s something for everyone,” says event organizer Christopher Louie on Chinese New Year celebrations. “We’re en-couraging people to rediscover Downtown and rediscover Chinatown.”

Festivities begin on February 2nd with a midnight ceremony at Chuan Thien Hau Temple, which will include blessings by Buddhist and Taoist monks, performances

Downtown L.A.’s historic Chinatown prepares tocelebrate the Year of the Rabbit

15Left: PHOTO By CaRmEN CHaNabove : PHOTO By aNdREw TEssaNdORi

THE BEAT EVENTS

C H I N A T O W N

D

CHINATOwN REflECTs THE RICH HIsTORY Of l.A.’s AsIAN COmmuNITY, buT AlsO bEARs THE sIgNs Of A CHANgINg, mODERN NEIgHbORHOOD.

by traditional lion dancers, and a display of fireworks.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles has organized several more events for the weekend following the New Year. On Saturday, February 5th at 1 p.m. the Golden Dragon Parade will make its way around Chinatown’s Hill and Broad-way Streets. Celebrating its 112th year, this parade draws a crowd of over 100,000 spectators, converging from across South-ern California. Accompanying the parade on the 5th and continuing onto the 6th is the Golden Dragon Festival, which will include stages with live performances throughout the weekend.

Chinese New Year organizers do not want anyone to feel alienated by foreign traditions. Chinese Chamber of Commerce President, Chester Chong emphasizes

that these events are for everyone. When it comes to celebrations, he explains, “It doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Creating an atmosphere that encour-ages people of different backgrounds to get to know Chinatown was the main idea be-hind the Firecracker Run, held on Febru-ary 12th and 13th.

Edmund Soohoo of Firecracker’s Board of Directors jokes, “People don’t have to feel awkward—it’s a running event! Everyone is just sweating together.”

The Firecracker Run, a non-profit event organized by a group of dedicated volunteers working year-round, is expect-ed to be bigger than ever this year. The event begins on Saturday with the Fire-cracker Bike Ride, a 30-mile ride stretch-ing from Chinatown to Griffith Park and back. The following morning, the lighting

16 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTOs By aNdREw TEssaNdORi

of 100,000 firecrackers will kick off a 5k run, a 10k run and a kiddie run.

To help maintain the festive mood, Firecracker Run organizers also host the Nite n’Day Festival in Chinatown’s Central Plaza from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the 12th and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 13th. The Nite n’Day Festival is free to the public and offers live music, food, and a beer garden. There will also be special events for kids, including a Year of the Rabbit rabbit petting zoo.

Chinese New Year events like the Firecracker Run are important for promot-ing and supporting the Chinatown com-munity, “But at the end of the day,” says Soohoo, “it’s just fun.”

His views are modest. By donating all of its proceeds back to the Chinatown com-munity, the Firecracker Run has raised over half a million dollars for the neighbor-hood’s schools, elderly people, and histori-cal society in its 33-year history.

In addition to raising money with its

events, Chinese New Year is also an im-portant business-booster for Chinatown establishments old and new. After the festivities, visitors can eat at the Phoenix Bakery, which dates back to the 1930s, or at new favorite Via Café. Participants have the option of ending the night with a drink in the landmark 5-tiered pagoda at the

historic Hop Louie Restaurant or under the dim red lights at trendy nightspot The Mountain Bar.

With its diverse assortment of busi-nesses, Chinatown reflects the rich history of L.A.’s Asian community, but also bears the signs of a changing, modern neighbor-hood, a phenomenon of which Chinese New Year organizers are not unaware.

Soohoo explains, “There’s been this explosion of cultural blending and merg-ing, but people also like to know where somebody’s roots are. When you come to Chinatown you get a sense of, ‘Oh! There are some roots here…people here have some real histories!’”

And those histories are not just Chi-nese. “We want to showcase all the differ-ent faces of Chinatown,” Louie adds.

Chong agrees, saying this year’s New Year events, like years past, will include not just one set of traditions, but traditions from across China, Asia, America, and the

globe. Participants will come from all parts of Los Angeles, representing the city’s many different ethnic backgrounds.

“We’re trying to really create this as not just a Chinatown event, but an L.A. event,” Louie says.

Chinese New Year organizers are happy to promote [continued on page 76]

THE BEAT EVENTS

Left: Dragon dances play a large role in the festivities Right: The parade will feature Miss Chinatown

17

TAggERS’ pARAdISE

: : B Y E R I c D z I N S K I

hatever you imagine a graffiti art gallery to look like, Crewest isn’t it. For one thing, it’s clean. The walls aren’t exposed brick or

cinderblock, nor are they covered in spray paint and magic marker. That’s all on can-vasses, thoughtfully arranged and artfully lit. The façade is inviting tempered glass, display-ing large works by artist George Yepes. The floors are concrete, but it’s pol-ished and sealed. It’s nothing like being on the street. If you didn’t know better, you would almost think that graffiti is a le-gitimate art form.

Bringing people to that conclusion is a ma-

jor motivation for gallery owner Alex Poli, Jr., who creates street art under the name Man One. “When you mention graffiti, I think they have something else in their head,” says Man. “There’s this connotation of what graffiti is supposed to be. It’s sup-posed to be grungy and dirty and ugly.”

Man says that displaying graffiti art in a modern downtown gallery helps people

get over these precon-ceptions and see the art behind the vandalism.

“The same artists that did a wall you see on the way to work ev-ery morning, now you see that same artist’s work in a gallery and you’re able to see it on a whole new level.”

And it seems to be working. Since relocat-

Crewest aims to elevate graffiti art forpatrons and taggers alike

19PHOTOs COURTEsE y OF THE CREwEsT GallERy

THE BEAT HISTORY

THERE REAllY wAsN’T A plACE lIkE THIs wHERE I COulD gO AND lEARN fROm OTHER ARTIsTs. THE ClOsEsT THINg wAs bElmONT TuNNEl.

ing to Winston Street from a much smaller space in Alhmabra in 2006, Crewest has become a hit in the burgeoning Down-town art scene. “During the Art Walks, we used to experience maybe fifty to sixty people a night,” says Man. ”Now we’re see-ing 1,200 to 1,500 people within a threehour period.”

Art lovers at each Art Walk tell Man that Crewest features the most unique pieces of all the galleries, and while that doesn’t always translate into sales, he says he is very pleased about the positive expo-sure. “The purpose of the gallery has been to educate people on what graffiti art is, what street art is all about.”

When I visited the gallery in Novem-ber, the street art was about skulls. Over a hundred human skulls that lined the walls and crowded the display tables were paint-ed, sculpted, and decorated for the gallery’s seventh annual Top of the Dome show,

which stretches Dia de los Muertos out for a whole mes. Canvasses also incorporated the skull theme, including an imposing black and white piece called Los Avenues, after the notorious L.A. gang. Accord-ing to artist Chaz Bojorquez’s statement, “To Latino people, the skulls’ representa-tion is not about death, but about rebirth, tracing back to ancient tradition from ourAztec heritage.”

Crewest shows are typically built around such themes. Sometimes this means highlighting a solo artist while other shows focus on particular subjects or media that include dozens of individual artists. Among the latter was a collection of painted soccer balls for this summer’s World Cup, or The Sharpie Show II, which runs through the month of December. In either case, Man One looks for originality in concept and execution, rather than ob-sessing over an artist’s pedigree.

20 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTOs COURTEsy OF CREwEsT GallERy

“If the art speaks to me, then I start in-vestigating the rest of it,” says Man. ”I get two to three emails a day asking to display at the gallery. Ninety percent of it I say no.”

That surge in interest is encourag-ing to Man One, who wants Crewest to be a place where taggers and vandals can be exposed to the more artistic (and respect-able) side of graffiti. “People are gonna do graffiti anyways,” he says. “There’s nothing we can do about that. But now we have this gallery where artists can sell their work and become known and make a living.”

The tours that Crewest regularly of-fers to youth groups and high school art classes gets kids excited about the artistic possibilities of graffiti. Some have even said they can’t wait to have their own galleries, which is a far cry from Man One’s youth. “There really wasn’t a place like this where

I could go and learn from other artists. The closest thing was Belmont Tunnel.”

When I asked if graffiti art is taken more seriously now than his days hang-ing out in the (now-sealed) subway tunnel, Man says, “I get called by really big compa-nies and clients, to do really big projects in graffiti style, so it’s totally taken seriously. Then I’ll be on the street painting the mu-ral, and cops will pull up and pull guns on me because I’m spray painting. So I guess that’s being taken seriously too.”

Crewest is open Tuesday through Thurs-day from noon to 7 pM, Friday and Sat-urday from noon to 8 pM, and Sundays from noon to 6 pM. Located at 110 Win-ston Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013. 213-627-8272. The gallery is also available forparties or events.

THE BEAT HISTORY

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

WYNTONMARSALIS

: : B Y P E N N Y O R L O F F

ulitzer Prize-winningcomposer Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln CenterOrchestra play the West Coast premiere of his Symphony No. 3 (Swing

Symphony) with the Los Angeles Philhar-monic, under the baton of guest conductor Leonard Slatkin, on Saturday, February 12 at 8 pm and Sunday, February 13 at 2 pm, at Disney Hall. Accompanying the “Swing Symphony” on the program are George

Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” and the Shostakovich “Jazz Suite No. 1.”

The composition, Marsalis’ third symphonic work, traces the long and rich history of jazz. Incorporating eclectic styles such as blues, New Orleans parade marches, Hollywood film music, France’s “Le Jazz Hot,” and Latin Jazz into the six-movement orchestral work, Marsalis pays tribute to the many great American jazz artists and composers of the 20th centu-ry, most notably Duke Ellington. Wynton Marsalis was the first jazz composer to

Uniting Jazz and Classical Music at the LA Phil

23PHOTOs COURTEsy OF Jazz aT THE liNCOlN CENTER

P

HIs mORE RECENT ExpERImENTATION wITH CERAm-ICs wAs AlsO bORN fROm A DEsIRE TO RECONNECT wITH THE pRImARY jOY Of mAkINg THINgs.

have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music – a prize denied to Duke Ellington in 1965 - for his jazz oratorio on American slavery, “Blood on the Fields.”

The idea of a uniting jazz and West-ern classical music is nearly as old as jazz, itself. Nearly a century has passed since Paul Whiteman set out to “make a lady” of jazz in 1924. Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin to compose a piece for his orchestra, incorporating the 20th cen-tury symphonic colors of Debussy with el-ements of jazz. The result was “Rhapsody in Blue,” which became a repertory staple virtually overnight with symphony orches-tras all over the world. A scant decade later Duke Ellington, himself, was experiment-ing with extended forms of the new music.

Commissioned jointly by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, the New York

Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philhar-monic, and London’s Barbican Center, the “Swing Symphony” had its world premiere last June when Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra sat in with the Berlin Philharmonic. Marsalis and the JALC next played the work’s U.S. debut in September, as part of the gala opening of the New York Philharmonic’s 2010 - 2011 season.

Marsalis has written that the last movement of his piece “features slapping and a groove that we all play together. It has a long melody and a space for everyone to play. And it brings together many dif-ferent feelings.” He explains that the next section is strikingly reminiscent of Ameri-can sacred music, “…’cause the centerpiece of a lot of Afro-American music is church music.” Of the final section, Marsalis says,

24 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTOs COURTEsy OF Jazz aT THE liNCOlN CENTER

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

“And then it breaks down into something that is at the end of your life, and you re-flect on everything…that’s why at the end I have us go ‘Huuuh. It’s like that last breath that you take. Like ‘we did this, and we had a good time.’ That’s what we conclude in jazz, it’s an optimistic music.”

Born in New Orleans in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, entering the Juilliard School at 17. Marsalis has recorded more than 30 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine Grammy awards. In 1983, he be-came the first and only artist to win both classical and jazz Grammy awards in the same year and repeated this feat in 1984.

Under Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra spends over a third of the year on tour. The big band performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compo-sitions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commis-

sioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and many others. Over the last few years, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has performed collaborations with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston, Chi-cago, and London Symphony Orchestras.

disney Hall is located at 111 South grand Avenue, between 1st and 2nd. The venue is accessible via the Red Line Civic Center Metro Stop. driving directions are avail-able online. For tickets and information, phone (323) 858-2000, or visit www.laphil.com. For more information on Jazz at Lincoln Center, please visit www.jalc.org.

38

THE LOOKOUT SIGHTS

dAvId KORTY: : B Y S I E R R a F E L D N E R - S h a W

os Angeles artist David Korty is a bit of a roman-tic, in the 18th century sense of the word. Known for his paintings, which have been shown at galler-

ies all over the world, Korty, 39, has recent-ly begun to attract attention for a series of whimsical, elegant, yet elemental ceramic pieces that are currently being sold at Hol-lywood boutique South Willard. His true passion, however, is for observing the in-

finite splendor of the natural world from behind the long arm of a fishing pole.

“I started fishing before I moved here [from Marin, where he grew up], but I didn’t get serious about it, ironically, until I moved to L.A.,” Korty says. He is sitting at the feather-and wire-strewn table of his Highland Park craftsman, showing me how to tie a fly. “It’s like [being] a cross between David Attenborough and Sherlock Holmes. At any particular time on the river, there are all these different bugs hatching, and

Ceramics and Fishing Lures from L.A.-based Artist, David Korty

27PHOTO COURTEsy OF daVid KORT y

HIs mORE RECENT ExpERImENTATION wITH CERAm-ICs wAs AlsO bORN fROm A DEsIRE TO RECONNECT wITH THE pRImARY jOY Of mAkINg THINgs.

you have to figure out what they are and what they look like and what they do.” He explains some of the methods used to fig-ure out precisely which bugs the fish are eating on a given day on a given river, and then replicate those insects well enough to fool a fish.

For Korty, angling is more than just a hobby. It’s a meditation. “I just got back from this insane trip to New York and Ber-lin and I came back kind of a wreck, sort of depressed. [Fishing] brought me back. There’s a certain smell you get on the river with the trees and the water. It’s fantas-tic. And it’s this really wonderful way oftapping into the endless complex beauty of the natural world, which gives so much back to me.”

Korty’s career as a painter began in earnest in the late 1990s when, after grad-

uating with an MFA from UCLA, his girl-friend left him suddenly to move to New York. Living in his painting studio near Western and Sunset at the time, he began to take long walks into Griffith Park. “It was so beautiful that I just finally started doing watercolors of what I was seeing – the trees and the mountains and sunsets. I came back to this idea of making paint-ings because it made me feel good. I wasn’t selling it or showing it at the time, so all I really was left with was this idea of, ‘Well, I can make a painting tonight with indigo and pink and I can go to sleep feeling kind of nice.’”

His more recent experimentation with ceramics was also born from a desire to re-connect with the primary joy of making things. “Once again, I went through a break up,” Korty says. “Breakups are always very

28 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 2 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTOs COURTEsy OF daVid KORT y

THE LOOKOUT SIGHTS

cathartic for me. I was down but I was try-ing to figure out fun stuff to do to enjoy my-self, especially creatively. I started doing it really as kind of mental health, just to have fun and be able to make stuff, not having to worry about whether it was good or bad but getting hands-on, just grabbing a big hunk of clay and making something.” He pauses to inspect the fly he’s tying, squinting as he twists a piece of wire around the tiny frame. “As a painter it’s so refreshing to make something three-dimensional. It’s all about the structure. If you don’t make it right it’ll fall over, it’ll melt, it’ll crack. If there’s a bubble it’ll pop. So there are these kind of nice physical constraints to it. With these pieces, I wanted to convey that kind of super basic sense of something that was squeezed out, ham-mered out, rolled, with fingerprints on it [and] a sense of imperfection. I wasn’t planning on showing it to any-one.”

Korty’s pieces tend to start with a slab, which he then rolls out and cuts, punches holes into, or shapes into vases and urns. Though he sometimes creates pieces that look like something, such as a series of trout (a nod to his passion for both fishing and folk art) or flat, one-dimension-al jugs, most of his work is more abstract. Some of the more interesting pieces are his series of extrusions, made from plunging clay through a metal box that’s mounted on the wall with differently-shaped holes at the bottom. Korty first extrudes the clay

onto a piece of plywood, then picks up the strands and re-loops them to create shapes that resemble very artful piles of linguini, or Dr. Seuss’ version of a Menorah.

“I’ve always thought the trick to being an artist or painter is it’s like sitting down to a table that has this enormous feast on it. The whole secret is trying to eat it as slowly as possible and savor every bite, and to come at it from as many different angles

as possible,” David says, describing the process of making both his ceramic works and paint-ings. “Because there’s nothing worse than rush-ing through the process and de-marcating territory too quickly, or dis-regarding things, or taking them for granted.”

Korty has a fa-vorite Philip Gus-ton quote about painting, “but I think it applies to fishing, too,” he adds. “‘A long prep-aration for a few moments of inno-cence.’ It applies to a lot of things. And it’s good prepara-tion, it’s not like, ‘Oh, shit, I have to do all this other

stuff to experience this.’ To be honest, the fishing and the river and being outdoors is so much better than painting, so much better than art. Maybe the ceramics comes closer to [those moments] and that’s why I’ve had such a good response to the ce-ramics. It’s like looking at geology or rocks or something.” He carefully removes the fly, affixes it to a piece of orange foam, and hands it to me. It looks like a perfect may-fly. “I mean, it is earth.”

29

Above: Fly fishing lures and ceramics are both new passions for Korty in addition to painting

Walking into the light

ndy Cato and Tom Findlay en-tered the music business and the nightclub business in a sin-gle, ambitious leap during the London winter of 1997. They

named both of their ventures Groove Ar-mada and as the band (the more success-ful of those projects) has proven, the two concerns were born of a desire to simply get asses out onto the dance floor.

Groove Armada makes electronic music, and not the indie-fied, Americana-cized style proffered by Crystal Castles and LCD Sound System. Cato’s and Find-lay’s tracks are meant for raves, born of the British scene that produced Sim-ian Mobile Disco and, more generally, a shrugging disinterest in all non-synthetic instrumentation. It is because of that lat-ter preference that White Light is a more

a: : B Y S h a N E D a N a h E R

interesting album than most in Groove Armada’s catalog.

White Light, the duo’s tenth LP since 1998, is a variation on a re-lease from earlier this year, the aptly titled Black Light. Though the latter album was only a moderate success, Cato and Findlay have decided to ex-pand on it by releas-ing this collection of live-in-studio ver-sions of the same tracks. The results easily outshine the material on which they’re based.

On “I Won’t Kneel” and “Paper Romance,” club-synth retreads be-come menacing examples moody electronica. “Boom-pap” drums give

way to texture – flourishes of guitar, in-trusions of percussion. As filtered through the snarling organ tones of White Light, Groove Armada sounds like the work of two songwriters, rather than a couple of errant DJs. The addition of lead vocal-ist SaintSaviour has more than a little to do with this transition. It’s good to see her influence in causing the group’s turn-table wizards to list ever-so-slightly away from ecstatic house music and towardcranky pop.

This is most apparent on Groove Ar-mada’s dalliances in rock and roll. On tracks such as “Look Me in the Eye Sister” the keyboards are ditched for Clash-aping guitars and the album reveals a glimpse (if only that) of the punk rock ethos lurk-ing beneath White Light. Cato and Find-lay tend to stick [continued on page 76]

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THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

The electro elder statesmen of GrooveArmada age gracefully with White Light

33PHOTOs COURTEsy OFdimEPiECE

TRENDS FASHION

DIMEPIECE: : B Y c at h E R I N E W R I g h t

esigners Ashley Jones and Laura Fama co-founded the brand Dimepiece in Spring 2007 after meet-ing through m u t u a l

friends six years ago. Ten seasons later, the ladies are ready to launch their Spring 2011 Collection, titled “Save No Prayer.” I spoke with Jones regard-ing the collection and she explained it as “Light and dark, maturity and innocence, pleasure and pain.” We went on to discuss the brand’s mes-sage of empowering women and how it pays to work hard.

Bunker Hill: How did the two of you meet and what is your background in theindustry?

Ashley Jones: Our vision is really what brought us together. We had a

unique synchronization about nearly everything. Laura’s emphasis is in Product Development and I have a BA in Fine Arts with an emphasis on

Fashion Merchandising. It was just something that came natural to us.

BH: What happens if you, as de-signers, disagree on something?

AJ: Although we are complete op-posites as far as our personalities are concerned, our vision has al-ways been the same. I can only

An interview with one of Downtown’s hottest designers

D

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think of one or two times where we totally disagreed on something. We argue, then eventually come to a compromise or create a new idea that we both agree on. We don’t waste time bickering.

BH: What inspires your designs?

AJ: We’re inspired by art, international fashion, vintage fashion magazines, sub-culture, pop culture, sex, powerful wom-en, and Los Angeles especially. There’s so much culture we’re immersed in here…there’s always something to be inspired by.

BH: Is that why you chose to work in L.A.?

AJ: We chose L.A. to be close to our fami-lies and also because we want to be in con-

trol of everything within our brand. The L.A. garment district allows us to see what is happening with our production on a daily basis. Everything we create happens within a 10-mile radius. We want to know who is making our garments and like the idea that they are being paid fairly. All of our garments are domestically made in Los Angeles, and so we do a lot of footwork in the city and are heavily involved in the creation and manufacturing process of our clothes.

BH: What message are you trying to send with your designs?

AJ: Our brand is really just a broad form of self-expression and so the message is our opinions on politics, fashion, empower-

IT gETs HARD TO CONTINuOuslY sTAY mOTIvAT-ED wHEN bEINg YOuR OwN bOss. If YOu DON’T gET IT DONE, NO ONE ElsE wIll.

TRENDS FASHION

ment, and feminism. We try to convey the message of the “Dimepiece” woman. She’s unique unto herself and doesn’t place her-self into any categories. We try to relay a positive representation of today’s young fe-male to our consumers and the public.

BH: Do you have any mottos that you have kept locked in the back of your mind while accomplishing all that you have?

AJ: My personal motto is: “As within, so

without.” Your thoughts become things. What you think, say, and do each mo-ment is your message to the world and so I try to remain positive and think healthy thoughts.

BH: What would you tell aspiring design-ers?

AJ: I think the most important thing to re-member is to have no fear. Take risks, try

to meet people you admire, put yourself out there and never be afraid of rejection. It is so important to work hard. If there is something to do, do a little more. Never settle, there is always something else that can be done. The more work, time, and ef-fort you put into something, the more re-warding the outcome will be.

BH: What has been the most challenging part of being a designer and co-founder of your own brand?

AJ: It’s challenging to keep going…and going. Things never stop, there is always something to do. It gets hard to continu-ously stay motivated when being your own boss. If you don’t get it done, no one else will. There is no overseer to clean up your mistakes or handle the things you don’t want to do. Rarely is there anyone willing to tell you how they did it or the best way to get things done. The fate of our company is 100% in our hands.

35PHOTOs COURTEsy OF dimEPiECE

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cedricOccupation: Stylist

What I ’m Wearing: H&M jeans with paint marksby Cedric, Obey Sweatshirt, Gucci Sunglasses,

Michael Kors watch, Air Jordans shoes

Quote: “Leggings, I am so sick of leggings! I want to se anything decade oriented go – so sick of the 80’s!”

Bunker Hill’s official style stalker, Catherine Wright, finds this month’s best

dressed downtown denizens.

37PHOTOs By ROBERT HEaVRiN

wendyOccupation: : DJ and Designer What I ’m Wearing: H&M shirt, Pants and Shoes from Hong Kong,Alexander Wang bag

Quote: “I try and stay away fromwhat other designers are doing.”

JoannaOccupation: Works with kids with special needs and at the Gap What I ’m Wearing: Forever 21 shirt, Puma jacket, Jeans from a boutique inHollywood, Vans shoes, Necklace purchased at Downtown Artwalk

Quote: “Keep it original and be true to yourself.”

TRENDS FASHION

39PHOTOs By TERRENCE CHO

TASTE FOOD

SpITZ: : B Y N O a h g a L U t E N

f it weren’t for shaved meat cooked on a rotat-ing spit, the majority of college students spend-ing a semester abroad in Europe would probably starve to death. We sup-

pose there are vegetarians among them, too, and that they primar-ily eat falafel. But whether you’re in Zurich, Athens, or Paris, you will be able to find some local twist on a large, flame-kissed ground meat mixture, which is sliced off of the spit, then flopped into a starchy vessel, topped with various sauces, cheeses, and vegetables, then sold to you for a minuscule sum.

One such Occidental student, Bryce Rademan, was studying for a time in Madrid, where he appar-ently ate a large amount of

döner kabob (a dish of Turkish descent), and became fixated on the idea of bring-ing these European-style, casual sandwich shops back to Los Angeles. Eventually he did, opening his first Spitz location in Eagle Rock before expanding to Little Tokyo.

The restaurant concept is fairly sim-ple. There are meats, there is falafel, and

there are vegetables, and they can be served to you in a salad, on focaccia, or wrapped inside of lavash (a thin flatbread). There are, of course, French fries, too, as well as sweet potato fries. And while Spitz calls itself an “upscale quick-service restaurant,” it is probably a lot closer to what I wish all fast food restaurants would be. But then, I prefer my fast food when I can eat it on an outdoor patio while nursing a 24-ounce mug of craft beer.

Studying Abroad in Little Tokyo

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TASTE FOOD

There is a strangeness to Spitz, though, as it is a sort of hybrid of a raucous college hangout and a European sandwich chain. The interior design seems to have nothing to do with the restaurant. The place is filled with abstract metallic installations and faux finished rust stains that would seem more at home in a bohemian Venice Beach coffee shop than a Little Tokyo eatery. But then, there are also televisions, making it a popular spot to watch football games on the weekend.

All the foregoing is why, after several visits, I can’t help but look at Spitz as a very enjoyable fast food restaurant. It is a place that draws its strength from keeping the menu simple and giving the customer the choice to mix and match however they see fit. If you want their combination of ground lamb and beef, served Mediterranean-style on lavash, you can have it. Would you pre-fer falafel on focaccia, with spicy sauce? Or

perhaps, for the carb-averse, some shaved chicken on a salad? They can do those, too.

Spitz does not rival the best of its Eu-ropean-inspired counterparts, and their shaved meats would certainly play second fiddle to all of the good al pastor taqueros in the city. But that really isn’t the point. It is a place of convenience and unique-ness. It is Turkish food via Madrid and Los Angeles, slid into a crisp stretch of Little Tokyo, where you can be in and out in 25 minutes or stay for hours downing pitchers of Craftsman beer, and digging into crispy French fries covered in sauce, cheese, and vegetables (they call ‘em “street cart fries”). If it’s an expensive hamburger, fried surf clams, and a glass or two of Tem-pranillo you’re after, Lazy Ox is just down the street. But if you want to sit back, spend ten dollars, and enjoy a casual meal with-out putting much thought into which local organic farm grew [continued on page 76]

THERE Is A sTRANgENEss TO spITZ THOugH: A sORT Of HYbRID bETwEEN A RAuCOus COllEgE HANg, AND A EuROpEAN sANDwICH CHAIN

PHOTO By TERRENCE CHO

43PHOTO By TERRENCE CHO

TASTE FOOD

MIKAWAYA: : B Y E R I c z D I N S K I

et’s say you find your-self in Little Tokyo after lunch or dinner at a noo-dle house or sushi bar. You’re in the mood for dessert, but the standard

green tea ice cream isn’t going to cut it, and you’re afraid the sweetness of American desserts will overpower the understated flavors of your Japanese entrée. What do you do? One option is the pastries and ice creams available at Mikawaya MochiIce Cream.

Tucked away in the elbow of the Jap-anese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo, Mi-

kawaya is easy to miss on your first pass, particularly in the torrential downpour of late December when I visited. But three days before Christmas, with cats and dogs falling from the sky, and thunderclaps set-ting off car alarms, my friends and I still had to wait in line to order. The lure of good ice cream is stronger than bad weather.

The ice cream counter spans the wall of the store, packed with flavors ranging from the familiar vanilla, chocolate and strawberry to the more exotic red bean, mango and, well, green tea. Each flavor is available as mochi, or scooped into a cup or cone for the less adventurous. Both va-

Mochi means more than you think

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TASTE FOOD

rieties are sold just on the verge of melting, which keeps the ice cream soft and creamy, and makes the mochi instantly bitable.

But while ice cream is the draw, there is more to Mikawaya than the freezer. A case along the back wall displays an in-triguing menagerie of confections that an untrained appetite like mine would be hard-pressed to identify without the help-ful descriptions. Most interestingly was that these baked goodies were also labeled as mochis.

If you’re only familiar with mochi as the frozen oddity available at Trader Joe’s, then some background is in order. Mochi actually refers to the doughy rice cake that surrounds the ice cream, and is used in a wide range of Japanese desserts. The tra-ditional method for making mochi involves two people pounding rice into sweet sub-mission with hammers, though modern

technology has significantly reduced the chances of crushed bones as an added in-gredient. Mochi is eaten year-round, but is traditionally associated with Japanese New Year celebrations.

The other surprisingly ubiquitous ingredient was beans. Sweetened azuki beans were used as filling in most of the confections. Though the starchy consis-tency was difficult to reconcile to the mild sweetness, it generally paired agreeably with mochi.

The White daifuku, for example, con-sisted of a mochi shell filled with bean paste. It bore a gentle, lingering sweetness far subtler than anything sweetened with cane sugar (to say nothing of high fructose corn syrup). daifuku Yomogi was a similar confection with an herbal infusion that modestly suggested green tea. The con-sistency was alternately chewy and gritty,

THOugH THE sTARCHY CONsIsTENCY wAs DIf-fICulT TO RECONCIlE TO THE mIlD swEETNEss, IT gENERAllY pAIRED AgREEAblY wITH mOCHI.

PHOTOs COUREsy OF VillaiN ’s TaVERN

depending on the mochi to bean ratio of any given bite. daifukus feel like raw pizza dough, doubling as a toy to play with while your mouth decodes the novel sensations of eating it.

Chofu consisted of heavy pancake bat-ter with the buttery flavor and moist con-sistency of pound cake. The mildly sweet mochi at the center contrasted the flavor and the texture nicely.

Kanoko looked like a hand-dipped chocolate peanut cluster, but that’s where the similarity ends. It was in fact a con-glomeration of whole red beans wrapped around a nugget of mochi. What little mochi was there didn’t do enough to off-set the texture or the taste of the beans, which made the overall experience pretty unpleasant. Chalk it up to unsophisticated Western palettes, or the fact that the thing smelled like a pier.

The surprise hit of the afternoon was the Hiyoko, which looked like an Easter Peep made out of bread. It was filled with a baby lima bean paste and egg yolk, which gave it a perfectly sweet flavor and the con-

sistency of a hard boiled egg. There was much more to sample at

Mikawaya than we four could manage in one afternoon. Individual desserts, includ-ing ice cream mochis, range from $1.10 to $1.85 a piece, so even if your initial selec-tion disagrees with you, you can discard it without much remorse and try something else. With enough experimentation, you’re sure to find something you love, which is fortunate, because they can make you a party box to take home.

Before we left, and despite the cold, I had to try a hazelnut mochilato (gelato wrapped in mochi), which sounds like something that you would order at Star-bucks, with the difference being that it was cheap and it tasted wonderful.

Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream is open Mon-day until 7 pM, Tuesday through Thursday until 10 pM, Friday until 11 pM, and Sat-urday until 10 pM. They are closed on Sun-day. Located at 118 Japanese village Mall, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 624-1681. Cash only, no plastic.

A simple note on a sheet of paper right on the front of his locker says it all. After the most turbulent year of his life, and by far the most challenging one, where he went all the way from being NBA ulti-mate hero to the NBA’s favorite villain in eyes of many fans not just in Cleveland, but league wide, LeBron James wants to live in peace and focus on basketball. He had to get thicker skin and learn how not to be bothered by the negativity sur-rounding him almost every arena he goes with his “Heatles.” Whether the Big Three will really turn into basketball version of the legendary rock band, the Beatles, is still debatable, but LeBron is ready forthe challenge.

After “taking his talents to the South Beach” James has proven once again that he’s, at the moment, arguably the best basketball player in the world. After slow start he helped the Miami Heat to become the scariest team in the NBA, which man-aged to win nineteen out of twenty games

during a five-week span in December and January, which raised (once again) the dis-cussion about the Heat being the favorite in the championship race. When I asked him about that, his face didn’t show the slight-est bit of emotion, but his eyes shined. “We don’t even try to compare ourselves to the rest of the NBA. What we need to do is to get better every day. We let everybody else to compare us to the rest of the league. We just go out and play Miami Heat basketball. Right now, that’s what we were doing and that resulted in wins. But we understand we got to continue to get better. Not to take a day off from practice, shoot around, or games, ‘cause we know that in this league you never know when the table is turning and you may be on the other side. The great thing about our situation is that we’ve been on the other side already. So we gonna stay humble and continue to move forward.”

In addition to Pat Riley, it was pri-marily Dwyane Wade who pursued LeB-ron and Chris Bosh to join him in Miami.

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“So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who

know neither victory nor defeat”

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Their friendship began on draft day in 2003, and they stayed close for years. No-body believed, however, that these three superstars would manage to land on the same team in the NBA. Last summer they realized their long dream and formed one of the most explosive (and expensive) tri-os in history of the game with Bosh in the middle, and Wade and James feeding of each other, slashing and on the perimeter. Toward the end of 2010, they finally found their rhythm and became almost impossi-ble to stop. “The games we’ve played, mul-tiple games – it definitely helped. The prac-tices, watching films together has helped as well. We are just figuring out, what need to be done for us to help this team to win, either with both of us on the court together or with one of us sitting down,” says LeB-

ron, for whom D-Wade is as much a friend as a teammate. “You can’t really separate one from another. It always helps. Time helps. We’ve always done things off the court, even where we weren’t on the same team. So it’s not something that was new for us. But we knew we’re gonna be togeth-er for a long time, so that helps. It’s noth-ing that I’ve learned about Dwyane in the recent months. It’s everything that I’ve al-ways thought about him…how competitive he is, how driven and how great teammate he is as well. That goes both on and off the court, and now I’m here with him here ev-ery day. It’s definitely like icing on cake.”

Since forming the Big Three, theMiami Heat became the most hated team in the league and it shows on the road. LeBron and D-Wade don’t get caught in the

negative vibes though – they feed of them. “We’ve always, for the most part, have been in front of hostile crowds on the road. For myself, early in my career I went through that experience in play-offs series against Washington. It was great to watch the se-ries we had. Later on against Detroit…we all knew how hostile [the] environment was. Last few years, the same with Boston…so we thrived, me and D-Wade, on those mo-ments and we just tried to lead our team to victory,” says LeBron, also pointing out at that coach Erik Spoelstra was also highly responsible for team’s turnaround in the recent weeks. “Spo has been great. The one thing he did, when we were struggling in November, he just weathered the storm. He gave us [the] understanding [that] it’s gonna take a lot of dedication and com-

mitment to get all those things right. We weren’t playing great basketball, but he al-ways just kept our heads up and stayed on the same course. We respected that. At that point we just tried to get back to him by go-ing out and playing better.”

LeBron understands that after winning two consecutive MVP awards in the past two seasons “it probably won’t happen this year.” He repeats like mantra that “it’s now all about team effort and everybody needs to make sacrifices.” He’s got different goals in mind, besides win-ning championships of course. How about being Defensive Player of the Year? “My mind has been into it,” James laughs and continues, “But it’s a lot of things that come with it. I’m out on the perimeter a lot. You see a lot of guys with huge rebound games,

“I always feel like I’mun-guardable, especially if

you guard me with one guy.”

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block games… [but] you don’t see too many guards, even if there are a few, like Ron Artest. I believe Michael Jordan was once a Defensive Player of the Year, so I don’t know. Although I’m getting better, I think in the last three to four years I’ve been a pretty good defender. I’m taking more pride on the defensive end. I give a lot of credit to Mike Brown, to Mike Malone and our coaching staff that we had in Cleve-land. They came up with a defensive system

and then I just picked [it] up and wanted to be the best defender on our team. I always take the challenge just as much as I do on the offensive end. In the last few years I’ve definitely have taken a lot of pride – I just try to guard my man who is front of me, not allow him to get any space. I’m trying to be help side defender at the same time.”

Although he’s becoming more defen-sive minded, don’t think for a moment he’s forgetting about scoring. When I asked

P H O T O B y s a m F O R E N C i C H

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him, “Do you think that you and Dwayne are un-guardable at the moment?” He doesn’t hesitate. The answer comes as fast as a bullet, “I always feel like I’m un-guardable, especially if you guard me with [only] one guy. But these times we just need to pick our spots, be aggressive, do as best for our team and individually.”

Love him or hate him, you mustadmire LeBron James not just as a super-

star or tremendous athlete, but as some-body who tries extremely hard to be a win-ner – that’s all he cares about. When asked about his plans for 2011, he doesn’t have to pause to think about it. “Just to continue to get better and be in winning situation. We all have great ambition here in Miami, some plans we want to fulfill.”

So far he has brought his talents to South Beach, and the championship pa-rades might follow very soon.

A MusiCGuide

By Lukas CLark-MeMLer

The Most Anticipated Albums of the Next 12 Months

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A MusiCGuide

…back to 2010. Based on the successes and failures, the hype and the underwhelm, we can better understand and predict the com-ing months ahead. The trends and patterns that dominated 2010 will surely continue into 2011, and will shape the year to come for better or for worse.

All things considered, 2010 was not a standout year for music, but lucky for us, 2011 is shaping up to be huge. With the much anticipated debut from London-wunderkind, James Blake; a collaboration be-tween the kings of hip hop, Kanye West and Jay-Z; expected releases from Coldplay, Dr. Dre and the Foo Fighters; firm rumors from U2, R.E.M., The Beastie Boys and The Cars (what decade is this again?), there truly will be something for audiophiles of every taste. And that’s not to mention the fact that both The Strokes and Radiohead are presum-ably putting out their 4th and 8th albums, respectively. Yes it’s going to be a huge year.

To look forwArd we MusT firsT look BACk…

Thank god for Kanye West. Sure, he is rude and arrogant, but imagine how dull the music scene would be without him. We need over-the-top and exaggerated caricatures to give us an escape from the dull ennui of pre-packaged, consumerist hip-hop. His gestures are so destructive, romantic and grand (like jumping into a swim-ming pool wearing a tuxedo) that you can’t help but think that self-sabotage is his ultimate pursuit. Regardless, Kanye owned 2010. The herculean juggernaut that was My Beautiful

can kanye Do It agaIn?

dark Twisted Fantasy not only gar-nered West critical acclaim, but also absolved him of his previous sins (sorry Taylor). And in 2011, Kanye’s reign is far from over. His upcoming collaboration with Jay-Z, Watch The Throne, is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, and will surely aid Kanye on his quest for becoming “the greatest artist of all time.”

Indie is dead. Finished. Now that ma-jor record labels (iTunes included) are marketing artists as “indie” in an attempt to latch on to the burgeon-ing movement, the term has become all but meaningless. That said, many so-called indie veterans are releas-ing albums in 2011 and are eager to lose the now, unfortunately, corpo-rate moniker. With a stronger focus on vocals and lyricism, Death Cab For Cutie’s seventh studio album, Codes And Keys, will be a more mature and vulnerable release. Ben Gibbard has called the record “achingly gorgeous,” and as long as it veers away from the dark self-loathing of 2008’s Narrow Stairs, it will be one of the year’s more important releases.

The Decemberists’ last record was a clumsy, long, and overly ambi-tious concept album that failed to

InDIe HeavyweIgHts wIll DomInate

find an audience. Learning from their mistakes, the Portland 5-piece prom-ises a hook-heavy, Smiths and R.E.M inspired 6th album. The King Is dead was recorded entirely in a converted farmhouse, which explains the al-bum’s apparent “rustic” sound.

After releasing one of the best albums of 2008, Fleet Foxes essen-tially dropped off of the musical ra-dar. But expect their return in 2011, where their “less-poppy” yet still much-hyped 2nd album will either fall victim to the ‘sophomore slump’ or overcome and be among the best of the year.

Love or hate them (or pretend to hate them but actually have a secret draw-er dedicated to their memorabilia), nobody can deny the musical and so-cial influence of all three of the fol-lowing women on contemporary pop culture. Albums from Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga all have 2011 release dates, which means fierce competition between these famed pop divas. Lady Gaga has a slight advan-tage, with The Fame Monster being the best selling record of 2010 (even though it was actually an EP). And the world will surely go gaga again for 2011’s Born This Way. Gaga is calling

tHe Holy trInIty of fem-PoP

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A MusiCGuide

her sophomore release “a marriage of electronic music with major, epic, dare I even say, metal or rock ‘n’ roll, pop, anthemic style melodies with re-ally sledge-hammering dance beats.” Wow. Will Gaga rule the pop charts of 2011? Probably. Will the album be of any substance? Probably not. But that hasn’t stopped the superstar from calling Born This Way “the greatest album of this decade.”

Despite a breakdown of Biblical proportions, Britney Spears is back in the studio and working on her seventh album. Having already released the first single, Spears seems back to form (but that’s assuming she can make it through the year without shavingher head).

We have been given very few details regarding the release of Be-yonce’s fourth album. All we know is that producer Sean Garrett has called it her “biggest album ever.” Expect great things.

Oh the struggles of being an indepen-dent record label in this day and age. With the power and omnipresence of iTunes monopolizing the record industry, it’s damn hard for the little guy to keep up. The Mississippi based, Fat Possum Records, are among many independent labels helping to local-

fat Possums Have never lookeD better

ize and personalize the contemporary music scene, and more power to them. 2010 was a big year for Fat Possum, with excellent releases by The Walk-men, Wavves, and The Black Keys. But they also suffered the death of garage rock icon Jay Reatard, and were vic-tim to the industry-wide slump in al-bum sales.

But things are looking up. 2011 will see this large rodent revel in suc-cess – both critical and commercial. Two January releases will help Fat Possum start the year in top shape. Tennis, following in the tradition of Mates of State and Arcade Fire, is composed of newly weds who’s eight month nautical sojourn, has resulted in an album of charming, tropic and effervescent beach-pop. Evoking the warped nostalgia of long summer days, Cape dory is one of the year’s most anticipated debuts.

Smith Westerns burst onto the music scene with the subtlety of a foghorn, and their 2009 eponymous debut displayed lo-fi rock at its finest. For their sophomore release, dye It Blonde, the Chicago quartet are step-ping out of the garage and into the studio. With a self-described “poppy and catchy” sound, the album could expand the band’s listenership and so-lidify their position as first-rate pur-veyors of noise.

tHe rIse of tHemacHInes

As technology advances, so do the possibilities of musical opportunism. Success is no longer dependent on your guitar or vocal ability. Now, all you need is a laptop and a reclusive lifestyle. By relying so heavily on ma-chines to produce artistic expression, we are inadvertently accelerating the rate of obsolescence – human obsoles-cence. James Blake, a London-based producer, perfectly captures the digi-talized zeitgeist. Last year, he released three EPs, each of which mutates and transforms conventional electronic music in different ways. Originally

a dubstep producer, Blake incorpo-rates aspects of dub into his music in a fresh, unprecedented manner. The mystique surrounding this young prodigy almost surpasses the hype for his debut LP. An early album of the year contender? Why not.

Anthony Gonzalez, the French mastermind behind the shoegaze out-fit M83, announced that his 6th album is going to be “very, very, very epic.” He had me at the second ‘very.’ Gon-zalez creates electronic and ambient sounds that inhabit a strange cosmic sector of the musical stratosphere, and this “darker” release will see him explore new ground.

Games, a collaboration between Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Nev-er) and Joel Ford (Tigercity), employs antiquated production techniques to create a surprisingly relevant albeit

tHe year of tHe strokes

What can I say about The Strokes that hasn’t already been said before? The New Yorkers’ debut was awarded the “album of the decade” title by NME, and they have been called the “most important act of our generation.” It’s funny to think it has been 10 years since Is This It, and five years since the band’s last release; yet The Strokes seem as relevant as ever. Hype really does lend itself to longevity. For the last few years, rumors of The Stroke’s fourth album have floated around in the backwaters of the Internet, but now Julian Casablancas confirmed (via Twitter) that the album is fin-ished and will be released this year.

The Strokes were one of the most important artists of the past decade, but the questions remains: is there any room for unabashed rock in the music landscape of [continued on page 76]

nostalgic sound. Their foray into the electronica world of pinball machines, TV soundtracks, Atari, and disco is authentic to say the least. Using an extensive arsenal of analog synthesiz-ers, Games are committed to recreat-ing the gaudy yet evocative sounds of the ‘80s. And their yet-to-be-ti-tled debut could be one of the year’sbiggest surprises.

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Vintage dress Christian Dior, Shoes Aldo

PhotograPhy by Allen ZAkiwww.AllenZAki.com

Model melissA DiFAZio @ Pinkerton moDel mAnAgement | Styling by cAtherine wright MakeuP by mAthiAs AlAn | hair by t’nique Jones

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Top Diane von FurstenbergSkirt American ApparelBelt Kimchi BlueRing Stylist’s ownShoes Rachel by Rachel Roy

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Top TheoryShorts ChandelierJacket French ConnectionKnee Socks Urban OutfittersShoes Steve Madden

Top Diane von FurstenbergRing Stylists Own

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Dress Richard BurreutaShoes Aldo

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Dress Stylist’s own Headpiece Laura Kranitz

Necklace Urban Outfitters Shoes Steve Madden

STUDIO UTEUTE VILLE3 2 3 . 6 5 8 . 6 5 7 4

www.studioute .comP H O T O G R A P H Y B Y

My work is the most creative blessing I have to share with you. My complete focus during a shoot is to reach within myself to show the world your spirit. I would be honored to provide you with photographs you can use to prosper in your career The creative Journey is always a shared experience.

Ut e Vi l l e @ a o l . c o m

Based in Los Angeles, Ute Ville is one of Cali-fornia’s most sought after digital photogra-phers. Her work can be viewed around the world, on magazine covers, in fashion shoots and celebrity portfolios. Her work is easily identifiable by the distinctive use of natural light and her unique ability to capture the exquisite contrasts between subject and sur-roundings. Due to her incredible artistic vi-sion, a wide variety of entertainers, actors and celebrities continually seek her photographic services for their headshots, wedding photos, fashion shoots and more. Over the years Ute

has not lost her ties with Germany, appearing in numerous TV’s shows and projects filmed in LA and in Germany. In 2009 she worked on a 6 episode German TV show called “Good-bye Deutschland” for vox TV. Due to the huge success of the show Ute has made a name for herself as a world class photographer. With an incredible eye for capturing a moment in time, a face in the crowd and the perfect shot, Ute’s unique ability combined with her pas-sion for traveling and photography has helped her make a name for herself in an incredibly competitive industry.

Ute’s client list reads like a list of who’s who

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Priscilla Holloway Makeup by Akemi Yagi www.beautyakemi.comFinal Artistry by KathyDiana.com

Minni DriverActress

Makeup Liz StabholzFinal Artistry by KathyDiana.com

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Mark RuffaloCongratulations to Mark Ruffalo and his fellow cast members of “The Kids are Alright” for their Golden Globe 2011 Nomination

Audrey Eichler Photographed by Ute for upcoming German TV show “Goodbye Deutschland”

[continued from page 30] close to the house music standbys of dancing and fickle love in their lyrics, but with “Paper Romance” and the aforementioned “Look Me in the Eye Sister,” there’s a sophistication of theme that goes beyond the ecstasy-fueled party to the morning after, maybe even to the hangover brought on by a decade of such overindulgence.

Groove Armada has been kicking around Europe’s club scene for almost 15 years, and rather than sounding disillu-sioned, overdosed, or just exhausted, the group sounds like it has grown into its age with some amount of forethought.

For a duo that grew up on a dance floor, adulthood is proving a less grating prospect than you might imagine.

White Light is available now on Bacardi/Cooking vinyl records.

Groove Armada

[continued from page 40] your tomatoes, Spitz is the place for you. Now if they could just start replacing a few of the Quiznos around town, I think we’d all be in a much better place.

Spitz

The Bristol Hotel

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[continued from page 12] hotel sat vacant until Pacific Investments purchased it in 2009.

The journey to make the old hotel inhabitable again was a long one. Accord-ing to Pacific Investments developer Eric Shomof, when he first walked into the Bristol he was greeted by walls that were stained yellow from years of cigarette smoke and dirt. It took several passes with a high-powered cleaning machine to re-move the grime from the lobby tiles. The plumbing, electrical wiring, and fire safety system were replaced. Shomof turned to a historical consultant for answers to some of his restoration quandaries and referred to old photographs of the hotel for others.

The building is now ADA-compliant, with a sleek modern elevator and a wheel-chair lift adjacent to the main entrance. Ev-ery studio is wired for Internet and cable. The apartments are small but immaculate, with strong guardrails on the windows and updated bathroom fixtures. The Bristol’s studios will be available for both Section 8 recipients and low-income tenants, and Eric Shomof hopes to see students and art-ists among them.

Will the re-imagined Hotel Bristol be successful? One would hope so. After all, the building has been brought full circle. The Bristol is embracing its past as a gra-cious hotel, moving past its lean years, and ushering in a future as safe, well-appoint-ed, affordable housing.

Guy K. Woodward would heartily ap-prove.

The Hotel Bristol is located at 423 West Eighth Street.

[continued from page 17] their history, but even happier to look to the future, welcom-ing diversity and change. Though the festi-val is built on tradition, the most important tradition of Chinese New Year, after all, is celebrating the arrival of something new.

Chinese New Year Celebrations take place from Feb. 2nd to the 13th. All events are open to the public. parking will be avail-able in parking lots throughout the neigh-borhood, or you can catch a ride on the L.A. Metro gold Line, which stops in the center of Chinatown.

New Years 2.0

[continued from page 12] today? We now have machines instead of instruments; producers in lieu of performers, and the blogosphere taking the place of old fash-ioned print magazines. So do we have room for The Strokes? I certainly hope so. Long live the kings of modern rock ‘n’ roll.

2011: A Music Guide

Black & WhitePhotographed by Emily Sandifer

Credit - Makeup: Elle Leary for Nars Cos-metics

Page 64 - The credit should read, “Silk sat-in triangular top and pleated trousers by Rami Kashou, Shoes by Report Signature for Diavolina”

Page 69 - The strapless white gown is by Rami Kashou.

The Vulnerable EdgeBy Catherine Wagley

Cover: Short and bra set by Rachel Roy, Lace Tank by Simone, Jacket by Park-er, Necklace by Pame Designs, Belt by Melamed Page 57: Jacket by Pavonine, Shirt bySuperdry, Jeweled Bikini Top by Limonada

Corrections: Jan 2011

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A D V E R T I s E M E N T

THE ART Of ElYsIum January 15, 2011 - The 4th annualblack tie “Heaven” Charity Gala atthe California science Center

elijah Wood

Jennifer love Hewitt

rashida Jones

Devo

rachel Bilson

leighton Meester James Franco Shepard Fairey

gerard Butler

amber Heardeva Mendes PHOTOGRAPHy By TONyA WIsE

Milla Jovovich

wEINsTEIN/RElATIvITY mEDIA gOlDEN glObE

Minnie Driver nicky Hiltonolivia wilde Jane Seymour

Colin Firth

kathy griffin

Quentin Tarantino Thomas Jane Paris Hilton

ryan Phillippe

Melissa leo

Julia Stiles

katey Sagal

sofia Vergara

PHOTOGRAPHy By TONyA WIsE

January 16, 2011 - Presented by Marie Claire at the Beverly Hilton

jANuARY RElEAsE pARTYPHOTOGRAPHy By GENIE sANCHEz

Bunker Hill Magazine celebrated the release of its January Issue with a party hosted by January cover model, Taryn Manning at 1616 Club & Restaurant.

OpENINg NIgHT Of THE lA ART sHOwPHOTOGRAPHy By TERRENCE CHO

In addition to the art, the Opening Night Premiere Party featured culinary delights and specialty bev-erages courtesy of LA’s finest restaurants. The after party was hosted at the Ritz Carlton and featured a live DJ set by shepard Fairey (aka DJ Diabetic).

February Allstar Issue

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