Veritas Empire
Shammys
Regardless of however big of a “Sham” the Grammys are, I still thought they’d throw it to Beyonce, or Gaga at the least. T. Swift? For realsies?
In the wise words of The Jew Squeeze, I’d still schtup her…probably even more so now.
The best part of the show was the pizza I ate during it. Upper Crust - Beacon Hill, what up?
FINAL SHOW ON FRIDAY
featuring
THE DAMN SONS
RUMSPRINGA
WHITE ARROWS
10pm $10. All Ages. Free Beer and Wine (21+)
The Unknown Theater
1110 Seward St. Los Angeles
Directed by Ethan Dawes
DJ Jonny Haus
be there, or suit yourself.
You can read the article that inspired me to right the wrong and write this one here.
As I’m sure many of you fellow rockers, hipsters, movers and shakers noticed this past weekend, the NY TIMES Style Section ran a piece called “Indie Rockers, 90210.” Rather than focus on what kind of music was played, the particular bands that are up and coming within the scene and the general mood of the movement, the writer, Jennifer Bleyer, chose to point-out the famous/privileged family trees of all involved. Did you know Z Berg is related to ICM mogul Jeff Berg? Did you know that Tallulah Willis is related to Det. John McClaine and that ex-babe who now schtups Ashton Kutcher? Did you know that Michael Shuman’s father was involved with “The Wedding Singer”?
No. You didn’t. Because it’s irrelevant and nobody cares. If history is any indication, people of all shapes and sizes have famous/noteworthy/respected parents, siblings, cousins, and family members. Nepotism is nothing new under the sun. “The Lucky Sperm Club” has been initiating members way before the days of The Like. In 2003, a shitty garage band from NYC started getting recognition for playing fuzzed, swagger-ific rock and roll - known to those in the know as The Strokes. When Julian Casablancas first hit the scene, all anyone could talk about was who his father was, what he did, and how he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. Wow! So did Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, and Charlie Sheen. What about Sean Lennon? I bet his Dad was someone musically inclined.
You see what I’m getting at here: it’s not about whose father does what, or where everyone’s immediate family works. It’s about the music, it’s about the kids, it’s about the scene, the moment, and the feeling of belonging when everyone is together. With that in mind, Ethan Dawes decided to start a brand of, well, he didn’t really know what at first. He just knew he wanted to contribute. So he started printing T-shirts with a HUMMER on them that read BUMMER. This shirts soon caught on, and Veritas –meaning TRUTH–soon became a household name for those growing up in the greater Los Angeles area - The San Fernando Valley, and Encino, specifically. Veritas soon began putting on shows at small venues throughout Los Angeles: Downtown, Hollywood, Silverlake, Echo Park, just to name a few. Kids of all shapes, sizes, and financial class levels started showing up, show after show after show. Ethan’s Dad, Biff Dawes, is a sound engineer, and has been since the heyday of Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac, but that is relevant to well, nothing. Just that I should point out what everyone’s parents do, because you know, people care about that stuff.
It is now the Summer of 2009, a Wednesday, June 24th to be exact. I am sitting in my office at work, rubbing the crust out of my eyes and trying to get the pounding synthesizers and bass beats mixed with footage of Paul Gasol, Kobe Bryant, and Trevor Ariza out of my head. See, last night Veritas threw what felt like its biggest turnout yet: The Super Mash Bros. w/ Mini Mansions at The Roxy in Hollywood California, right on the Sunset Strip. Ethan likes to keep it all in the proverbial family, if not his immediate family. His brother, Zach Dawes, (the bassist/sometimes drummer of Mini Mansions) has been playing in bands with his best pal, Michael Shuman, since the duo were 12 years old, listening to NOFX records, skateboarding, prank-calling girls. Fun fact: Shuman had a safety-pin lodged in his ear a-la Johnny Rotten at the time (of the Sex Pistols for you tweens following along at home). Their first band was Shove It, a punk quartet inspired by AFI, Blink 182, and duh, NOFX. Now 24 and super talented, Shuman plays with Queens of The Stoneage, but in his off days, spends time with his best friends Zach and Tyler Parkford in a dingy, decrepit recording space deep in the bowels of North Hollywood. Their latest incarnation, the Mini Mansions, is a dark but poppy trio in the vein of The Beatles in their acid-fueled B-Sides meets well, nothing you’ve heard of. They boys switch instruments in between songs and are quite a pleasure to listen to. Their first offering, The Mini Mansions EP is a poppy gem with nice guitar-twangy moments. I suggest you pick it up at one of their shows, or through Zach Dawes (who can be found at Fashion Square from the operating hours of 9-7 M-F). The boys played to a packed house of underage tweens last night who felt out of place at first, as if they thought the Jonas Bros were going to take the stage. After a song or two, and definitely by their version of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” the kids were super into it. FINALLY! Someone is getting them into original, quirky, authentic music that isn’t the latest Lady GaGa garbage (although, I will say, Poker Face is an ill jam). The boys played what felt like their best show yet (They played the Roxy last week with Jack White’s new band, The Dead Weather). This felt more organic and relaxed — and for some reason, the little tykes brought out the best in Tyler, Zach, and Michael. They were clapping and screaming and singing along until the very last note.
After, the audience was treated to a DJ set by Post-Foetus, a nerdy but cute teenager with nothing but a G4 laptop and MPC that made ambient pulses that were shockingly on par with some of Aphex Twin’s earliest work (The Ambient Works, to be exact). A bit nervous at first, this kid really got rocking two grooves into his set. Post-Foetus was stoked. As he exited the stage he was smiling from ear to ear, literally beaming with joy.
“What were your first inspirations as a little dude?” I asked.
“Honestly, Bjork was the first thing that made me go, ‘Whoa.’”
And there you have it, folks. Post-Foetus first got his musical rocks off to Bjork. As we continued to talk and hang, the Mansions made there way backstage for post-show celebratory beers. Shuman, Dawes, and Pickford are a fun bunch to hang with, and not just at shows. I’d be lying if I told you this journalist was unbiased. What can I say? They’re my dudes. As the “older kids” it was really cool to see them congratulate post Foetus on his first big show, which he really appreciated.
Finally, at 11:00 PM, as Jewish kids in Lakers gear scrambled to finish setting up projectors, Apple computers, and video monitors, the Roxy curtain lifted once more. Dick Fink and Nicolas Fenmore are the dynamic duo behind the wheels-of-steel. As the curtained raised, you would’ve thought you were at Shea Stadium in the 1960’s, about to watch The Beatles as they stormed America. Two jews, two laptops, and a Lakers inspired shctick –what’s not to like? Sure, it’d be easy as fuck to compare them to Girl Talk, DJ AM/TrV$, but the truth is, they bring their own brand of fun/funk to the DJ world. Although somewhat derivative, one thing’s for damn sure: These kids packed the Roxy like sardines on a Tuesday night. I don’t think Greg Gillis was doing that at their age. He was probably on Napster and Kazaa.
As Lakers Playoff footage was remixed with the tunes, little boys and girls in the audience when berserk. AWOL. Out of their minds. It was like they were witnessing the second coming of Christ, but that their Lord and Savior were these two dudes in purple and gold hoodies. At one point things got so out of control the boys had to stop to ask people not to jump onstage. I think the last time someone had to ask people to stop feeling it so hard was at an At The Drive-In show at Australia’s BIG DAY OUT festival back in the late 90’s. It was EPIC to say the least.
And then there was the man behind it all: our Encino Wizard of Oz - Ethan Dawes. Bopping around stage in his wanky, janky tank-top, shooting his flash-off on his digital camera, Ethan looked happier than anyone else I’ve seen at the Roxy, or even at a show, in a long, long time. He is the master behind it all, pulling the proverbial strings. However, Ethan isn’t fazed by whose kids show up to his shows, or where they plan on going to college, or how big their dad’s bank account is. He could care less. And that’s how it should be.
In Cameron Crowe’s rock and roll coming of age, Russell from Stillwater stands on the roof of a house party, where he is made to feel Godlike in a crowd of awe-inspired fans. Although he first stumbles and his first crack at last words are “I’m on drugs,” when he finally thinks for a second, he realizes it’s so simple. “I dig music.” Russell, like Ethan, digs music, and likes hanging with Real Topeka people and bringing them together. So many artists are trying to expand their brand and make an impression. From Kanye West, to Green Day, Soulja Boy to Lady Gaga, from MGMT to Taylor Swfit and the Jonas Brothers, it’s hard to sift through the bullshit these days. Good thing we have a man like Ethan Dawes to make it a bit easier.
That’s the thing about these Veritas shows: everyone is a good dude. People just want to have fun and vibe. It’s not about who your parents are, what car you drive, where you live, where you went to school, what schul you belong to. It’s about being together. We stand for something — nothing. Just a bunch of friends, getting together to play/listen to music. And that’s how it should be.
The Author, Matthew James Hausfater, is a writer living in Los Angeles in West Hollywood. He likes glasses, girls with pretty legs and feet, beer, chibb, and his friends. All of which, can be found at any Veritas show.
Haiti
Reporting from Mexico City - Thousands more U.S. Marines and soldiers were expected today around earthquake-battered Haiti, joining a global relief effort that appeared to be getting food and water to growing numbers of desperate survivors in the capital.
The U.S. military’s plans called for bolstering the 5,000 already on the ground or on naval vessels offshore by adding at least 5,000 more forces beginning today.
Troops are airlifting emergency supplies and the injured, providing logistical support, managing the Port-au-Prince airport and standing by to help provide security amid scattered reports of looting and gunfire in the capital, where tens of thousands of people awaited food and water.
Security remained a top concern of officials overseeing the international relief effort. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today proposed adding 3,500 more U.N. peacekeepers and police to maintain order and protect deliveries of emergency aid.
Ban, who visited Haiti on Sunday, asked the Security Council to approve sending 1,500 more police officers and 2,000 peacekeeping troops to supplement the current contingent of about 9,000 personnel.
Ban today described the scenes he witnessed in Haiti as “heartbreaking.” At least 46 U.N. staff members are known to have died in Tuesday’s 7.0 quake, which by some estimates killed more than 100,000 people.
He said top priorities are to clear bottlenecks that have delayed some aid shipments and to make sure the world’s response is well-coordinated. “The Haitian people need to see that today is better than yesterday,” Ban said.
Kenneth Merten, the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, said in a television interview this morning that the security situation was “obviously not perfect” but could be managed. Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers had suffered losses that had impaired their ability to provide law and order, he said.
“This is not a perfect law-and-order situation here even in the best of times,” Merten said from Haiti on NBC’s “Today” show. “While we’re watching it closely, we’re concerned about it, we’re monitoring carefully, we don’t believe it’s anything that’s unmanageable at this point.”
U.S. troops would play a backup security role and step in if needed, adding that they had done so already “on a couple individual occasions.”
Haitian President Rene Preval appealed to international donors today to help Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere, long after the immediate crisis ends.
Preval, who has been largely absent from public view in Port-au-Prince since last week’s temblor, attended a conference of international donors and financial institutions in Santo Domingo, the capital of the neighboring Dominican Republic.
“We cannot just cure the wounds of the earthquake, we must develop the economy, agriculture, education, health, and reinforce the democratic institutions,” Preval said, according to Reuters.
In a sign that the relief effort was picking up steam, the U.N. World Food Program said today it would hand out 220 tons of ready-to-eat meals to 95,000 Haitians, an increase over the 67,000 people fed a day earlier.
The agency plans to hand out 10 million meals, plus rice and high-energy biscuits, during the next week, and estimates that it will need to provide 100 million meals during the next 30 days.
Josette Sheeran, executive director of the Rome-based agency, said aid workers had reached an agreement with the U.S. military and Haitian aviation authorities at the Port-au-Prince airport to give priority to humanitarian flights and ensure a more orderly flow of goods.
Some aid donors have complained their flights were turned away from the damaged airport, which in recent days has been run by the U.S. military.
Sheeran said the ability of relief groups to get help to victims is “improving hour by hour,” though needs are still massive. The list of immediate top priorities, she said, included clearing roads; repairing the capital’s seaport, which was forced to close due to quake damage; guaranteeing security at food handout points and getting more trucks and helicopters to deliver goods.
World Food Program officials said they would have to find new warehouses for food supplies in Port-au-Prince because of damage to previous storage facilities caused by aftershocks on Sunday.
Meanwhile, European Union and member states have offered more than $575 million in relief and recovery aid, Reuters reported. The Obama administration has already pledged $100 million in U.S. emergency aid.
Former President Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, today traveled to the Caribbean nation and met with doctors and patients at a hospital. He is the latest in a string of U.S. and U.N. officials to visit since the earthquake.
Clinton planned to meet with Haitian officials and aid workers and help to deliver emergency supplies: food, water, solar-powered flashlights, portable radios and generators, according to a statement from the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton and former President George W. Bush have been tapped by President Obama to raise donations for earthquake relief. The website is ClintonBushHaitiFund.org.
The wave of U.S. forces arriving early this week includes the 3,500-strong 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, which has close to 1,000 paratroopers on the ground already. The paratroopers are providing security at the airport and other locations and have been handing out water and instant meals. Troops have hitched rides with U.N. peacekeepers and aid groups while awaiting the arrival of Humvees and transport vehicles, expected today.
In addition, 2,200 members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune were due to arrive. The U.S. Navy salvage vessel Grasp arrived this morning as part of an effort by military divers to clear debris from the seaport and find places to unload cargo ships, which have not been able to enter the port.
Search teams, meanwhile, continued digging in the rubble for survivors as medical teams from around the world patched wounds and performed amputations to save the lives of victims with crushed limbs.
Among the numerous international aid teams is a group of doctors and nurses from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center that arrived Sunday and joined a field hospital run by the Israeli military. The hospital has been treating about 500 patients a day and seems to be one of the few in Haiti capable of performing surgeries, said medical center spokeswoman Leslie Ridgeway.
“Outstanding facility — everyone being put to use,” Ramon Cestero, a County-USC trauma and critical-care surgeon, wrote in an e-mail. “Amputations, debridements [cleaning burns] common. Occasional gunshot injuries, as well.”
ken.ellingwood@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
These People Need Lives "Avatar Blues"
I thought the only depressing part was that we can’t have bodies like theirs…clearly there are other reasons.
(CNN) — James Cameron’s completely immersive spectacle “Avatar” may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.
On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.
“I wasn’t depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ,” Baghdassarian said. “But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don’t have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed.”
A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.
“That’s all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about ‘Avatar.’ I guess that helps. It’s so hard I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na’vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie,” Elequin posted.
A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site “Naviblue” that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.
“Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mike posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.’ “
Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.
Cameron’s movie, which has pulled in more than $1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales and could be on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, is set in the future when the Earth’s resources have been pillaged by the human race. A greedy corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral unobtainium from the planet Pandora, which is inhabited by a peace-loving race of 7-foot tall, blue-skinned natives called the Na’vi.
In their race to mine for Pandora’s resources, the humans clash with the Na’vi, leading to casualties on both sides. The world of Pandora is reminiscent of a prehistoric fantasyland, filled with dinosaur-like creatures mixed with the kinds of fauna you may find in the deep reaches of the ocean. Compared with life on Earth, Pandora is a beautiful, glowing utopia.
Ivar Hill posts to the “Avatar” forum page under the name Eltu. He wrote about his post-“Avatar” depression after he first saw the film earlier this month.
“When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed … gray. It was like my whole life, everything I’ve done and worked for, lost its meaning,” Hill wrote on the forum. “It just seems so … meaningless. I still don’t really see any reason to keep … doing things at all. I live in a dying world.”
Reached via e-mail in Sweden where he is studying game design, Hill, 17, explained that his feelings of despair made him desperately want to escape reality.
“One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Pandora, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, what we have done to Earth. I so much wanted to escape reality,” Hill said.
Cameron’s special effects masterpiece is very lifelike, and the 3-D performance capture and CGI effects essentially allow the viewer to enter the alien world of Pandora for the movie’s 2½-hour running time, which only lends to the separation anxiety some individuals experience when they depart the movie theater.
“Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far,” said Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. “It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.”
Fans of the movie may find actor Stephen Lang, who plays the villainous Col. Miles Quaritch in the film, an enemy of the Na’vi people and their sacred ground, an unlikely sympathizer. But Lang says he can understand the connection people are feeling with the movie.
“Pandora is a pristine world and there is the synergy between all of the creatures of the planet and I think that strikes a deep chord within people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it,” Lang said. “James Cameron had the technical resources to go along with this incredibly fertile imagination of his and his dream is built out of the same things that other peoples’ dreams are made of.”
The bright side is that for Hill and others like him — who became dissatisfied with their own lives and with our imperfect world after enjoying the fictional creation of James Cameron — becoming a part of a community of like-minded people on an online forum has helped them emerge from the darkness.
“After discussing on the forums for a while now, my depression is beginning to fade away. Having taken a part in many discussions concerning all this has really, really helped me,” Hill said. “Before, I had lost the reason to keep on living — but now it feels like these feelings are gradually being replaced with others.”
Quentzel said creating relationships with others is one of the keys to human happiness, and that even if those connections are occurring online they are better than nothing.
“Obviously there is community building in these forums,” Quentzel said. “It may be technologically different from other community building, but it serves the same purpose.”
Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing the movie include things like playing “Avatar” video games or downloading the movie soundtrack, in addition to encouraging members to relate to other people outside the virtual realm and to seek out positive and constructive activities.
