Bob Forrest (of T. Monster)
It's All Art
Music in Los Angeles
AMP Newsletter August 2009
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above: photo of Bob Forrest by Nate Potkker

Music in Los Angeles: A Spellbinding Soundtrack

by Austin Wilkin, resident writer and AMP member

When out and about in this wild world of ours, I often find that Los Angeles is commonly perceived to be synonymous with Hollywood. I admit that I, too, used to think this way. However, the longer I reside in this great city, the more I find this concept to be further and further from the truth.

Perhaps the only exclusively 20th century metropolis in North America, this city is complex and difficult to understand. Only a brain-dead charlatan would bother trying to simplify it in any fashion, and many will try. Not me. But I will tell you this: The soundtrack to the experience of Los Angeles is absolutely spellbinding, from the clubs to the coffee shops and street corners. While driving home last night at 2 AM, I saw a man on the freeway off-ramp strumming Willie Nelson songs. His beat-up old guitar liberated my heart in three chords.

When I was a young child, I read an interview where the very successful lead singer of my favorite band was asked if he had any advice for up and coming musicians, and his response was simply this: "Go to business school." And I didn't get it. I knew it was important, but I didn't get it. Now that I am an old child, I get it. I get his point, and I also understand the bitterness and cynicism that came with it. It is Show BUSINESS after all, right? Well you know what? Let's not forget the SHOW part of that equation. It's the show, at the end of the day, which made us all fall in love in the first place.

Los Angeles is a hive of creativity. Artists from all over the world congregate in this massive factory town to try and "make it". And some of them do. Some become embittered and leave. But most fall in the middle category: they become the best person they can be because they choose to follow their dreams and do what makes them feel alive. Isn't that the point of it all? When that collective vibe comes across through the magical medium of music, for me there's nothing better.

The collective hum of the hive that is the Los Angeles music scene, both inside and outside that famously named neighborhood of Hollywood, makes me smile. From the freeway musicians and the free jazz nights at LACMA, to the fertile sounds of Punk, Hip-Hop, Rock, Electronic, Funk, New Wave, Drum n' Bass, Metal, Emo, Folk, Acapella, you name it, it's here, and it's waiting to be discovered, uncovered, and thoroughly enjoyed.

Read on and you'll find a collection of thoughts - reminiscence, instruction, rumination - from several working musicians in Los Angeles, all AMP members. And as a bonus, you get a bit of topical fiction (or is it?) and some ways to start your own exploration of the LA music scenes. Enjoy.

Holmes Space Run
by Roy Shakked AKA Holmes

Click here to hear Holmes.

How did I get here? I'm not sure. But somehow over the last 10 years, after having worked as a desk jockey at a small record label, I've been able to sustain an independent, work-from-home music career and avoid spending my days stuck in traffic and operating behind an office desk.
Gilli Moon
- the ins and outs of getting out there as an artist in the business of music -

by Gilli Moon

The KEY TO SURVIVAL AND SUCCESS in the music business of TODAY is to be a unique artist, in charge of your own destiny. It means you need to be an artist entrepreneur. In order to be powerful as an artist, you have to be very business artist. You need to be very self driven and business savvy. You don't need to know everything about the business (you can go to experts for advice) but you are in control. If you want it to be life long, you have to be a visionary. You have to be able to think outside the box and "feel" it inside. A lot of inner work is required. So while you are working on your craft and techniques on the outside, you have to work on your mindset on the inside.
Steve Barton and the Oblivion Click
Click here to hear Steve's music.
(strongly recommended: "Cartoon Safe")

Steve Barton started playing music when he was around 9 years old. His first band, The Present Tense, recorded one of his songs called "Lost" for a single when Steve was 11. The father of one of the band members wouldn't let his son sign the recording contract, so that single never saw the light of day! Steve signed a publishing deal when he was 14. Of course, he is best known for his work with Translator, his band from San Francisco in the '80s. Steve's current band is Steve Barton And The Oblivion Click.
DJ Joe G
by Joseph Guisti

I am an artist. I don't feel the need to legitimate that statement, but because my audience (and perhaps an ex-girlfriend or two) might argue with me, allow me to frame what I do in an artist's vocabulary: I create performance-based works which rely heavily on pastiche, sampling, re-contextualization and pop culture. I blend and temporally arrange popular media pieces which take inspiration from a wide variety of contemporary genres and folk practices. I create these works with the help of my audience, who have also assisted me in compiling the mountains of source material I draw from in each installation. I occasionally perform for myself or small groups of friends, but the majority of my performances are funded. Sometimes I even perform half-naked.
Cheesebox Chuck
by Chuck Gardner

I had just arrived back from a business trip to Alabama: It had been a rough flight, as the trip itself had been. I had managed to calm my assistant down to a tolerable level and there would likely be no problem boarding the flight as I had feared earlier. I had serious reservations that we would be detained and maybe even incarcerated under suspicious yet vague charges of spooking the shit out of the crew and/or passengers whilst in flight. Earlier in the trip things were progressing in a acceptable fashion when one of the clients, obviously at ease with our seemingly professional demeanor, leaned forward and asked my associate Chip "Do you dip?". Chip originated from strange distant foreign shores and is not well versed of the local Southern argot, and unfortunately took it the wrong way; from that point on in the trip quite visibly shaken, the implications of the casual comment poisoning the usual placid waters of his eggshell mind. I managed to convince him on the way to the airport that his anxiety was simply over a misunderstanding, which helped till we hit ass-over-teakettle turbulence somewhere over East Texas. I breathed a sigh of relief whence disembarking, as there were no air marshals or otherwise paid, armed, and dangerous hired geeks waiting in the arrivals area. I had managed to beat the odds once again: I was home free and clear. What was needed at this juncture was some righteous musical maelstrom, And L.A.'s got it thicker than flies o'er the community cesspool.

Thanks for reading this far! Want to know more about music in Los Angeles? There's no way a little newsletter can even begin to do more than scratch the surface of this complex city.

You might start by exploring LA Radio:


Want to read more about it? Look in the LA Weekly's Music section, or the Los Angeles Times' "The Guide" - but know that you've only scratched the mainstream surface. Get to know some Los Angeles AMP members and ask them what's good. That, after all, is the big idea here - artists introducing fellow creatives to communities they might never otherwise meet. But you can at least start with AMPer Fumiko Amano's Atelier Zero event list, one of the hippest insider guides to what's going on in the various Los Angeles art and music scenes.

Looking for some good free concerts? You could do worse than the Grand Performances series in Downtown Los Angeles, or the Twilight Dance Series on the Santa Monica Pier, which ends their series this year with a free oceanside concert by Patti Smith.

It truly never stops - deciding where to start is the hard part. I'm certain I'll be kicking myself within 10 minutes of sending this out over something I forgot to tell you about. I'll have to live with that.

A few more things -

This doesn't have a lot to do with music, but time is of the essence. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has decided to stop its long running (40 years) weekend film series. Many are unhappy (including myself), and are taking action. You can too, from wherever you are in the world. Sign the Petition, join the Facebook Group, read the blog, and read Martin Scorsese's open letter to LACMA, published in the Los Angeles Times.

Rick Barnett of Fish Lake, Indiana continues to do absolutely astonishing volunteer work. Bit by bit, state by state, Rick is revolutionizing AMP's World Art Directory, with a focus on galleries in the US. Look at what Rick has done with, for example, gallery listings for Alaska. Big thanks also go to Kim Hung, who is also doing lots of research for AMP's World Art Directory before she heads off to Spain. All research assistance is welcome - email me at pluginamp@gmail.com to offer your volunteer services. As little or as much help as you want to give is much appreciated!

And go see The Cove, a very important film. There is a chance to stop the mass slaughter of dolphins that is scheduled to begin again on September 1. Find out what is going on, and how you can make a difference.

Sincerely,

 Dark Doctor T
Terri Anderson
AMP: Artists Meeting Place and Resource Collective

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