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Myself, Dazzla, and Linda at El Dorado‘s Boys & Girls night last Saturday.
Photo by Norton

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Unravel on occasion.

I recently agreed to do a photo shoot for my hair stylist MaiLing, her salon is called Cocoon Hair Studio. I am totally into the two-toned color she gave me, its super fun and versatile.

Below is a self -portrait, we’re still waiting on the final results from the photographer.

Cocoon is a relaxing and intimate experience, it’s a single studio space, located in Bankers Hill or Park West and is walking distance to Balboa Park.

This is a great neighborhood, with all kinds of places to eat, drink, shop and walk. It’s also a stones throw from downtown and Hillcrest.

Balboa Park is home to various museums and gardens such as The San Diego Zoo, MOPA, Museum of Man, and the Rueben H. Fleet Science Center which has an IMAX theatre. Some other favorite places in Bankers Hill are Tin Can Ale House, Cafe Bassam, Evolution Fast Food and the Spruce Street Bridge.

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México City Part I – The shows

We departed from Tijuana to México City (D.F.) on December 12, 2012 on a redeye flight via Volaris. We arrived about midnight (D.F. time) and waited about 10 minutes outside the airport before being picked up by our host, Juan Pablo Villegas (JP) and his good friend/collaborator Alfredo Martinez. These guys are rad, both are awesome New Media artists/designers and super sweet people.

While driving to the studio we passed a part of town called El Bennion de los Baños or “Little Columbia” holy fuck! I have never seen anything like this, we turned a corner and all of a sudden- massive bass sounds coming out of a few small streets, cumbia music blasting, stacked speakers and about 30 people dancing in the streets! A few blocks later we arrived at Lalo’s studio, to pick up a few things for an exhibition that Alfredo was having that that week. Lalo’s studio serves as a shared artists’ work space which is part of a collective called Artlab MX. This place is fully equipped with various wood cutting tools, drills, paints, and laser cutters. We were shown a few examples of how the laser cutters work- the designs are uploaded via a computer program of some kind which uses a vector system then it’s sent over to the machine which makes flawless cuts into the desired material.

Next we reached the house of JP, which is very close to Parque Hundido. Our friend Alex (also known by his stage name, TRON) had arrived a few days earlier from Mexicali and was in the kitchen preparing a very delicous pasta for us. We had a few drinks, got to know everyone a bit and started talking about art and life etc. JP is currently programming specific software and adapting electronics in a sound jacket, designed by MACHINA, which is a wearable technology company that advocates free software, DIY ethics and (h)ac(k)tivism. The sound jacket peaked my personal intrest since I am currently working on an interactive sound-suit in collaboration with Randy Chiurazzi and Bobby Bray. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the idea of such a garment, it’s a loose idea of intertwining technology (for example: LilyPad Arduinos) and textiles in perfect harmony for a particular desired effect. Some photos of JP modeling his ideas…

Day One:
The first show happened at Museo Británico Americano en México or the British American Museum in México, which is a totally insane venue! It’s actually a late nineteenth century, english-gothic church which is currently in the process of being restored. We got there a bit early, since all of the musicians had to do sound checks etc. While waiting for things to get started I took some time to walk around the grounds of this incredible space. Shorty after I met Danette who is part of a musical project called Sonido Lasser Drakar. She helped out to organize the event and was there early.

With a cooler of Mezcal and beer time went quickly and not before long the place filled up. This night was hosted by VOLTA (a collective of artists who organize experimental music, art and sound events), in collaboration with Vale Vergas Discos (a record label based out of D.F.), Patronato de Arte Contemporaneo, Ediciones Conquista and Monogatari

Performances for this night include: MONOGATARI, DS RE, TRON, BOBBY BRAY, ROGELIO SOSA and ORMO + Brontis

Photo set courtesey Melisa San Vicente and Antonio Barrientos / VOLTA

Day Two:
This show was located closer to downtown at a little bar that sells Mezcal and beer, located en frente al Teatro Blanquita. It was hosted by Vale Vergas Discos and Monogatari / Flier made by GURO.

This is the show that I would also be playing some vinyl at. We arrived in time and the musicians began sound checks. After all my levels were set for the turntables I began to feel more relaxed and comfortable. I started my set with one of my favorite records, 1968 Delay by CAN. Alfredo and I now began to play back to back which was super rad. In line with the likes of my style his set included: Psychic TV , Neu, ‎Braindead Sound Machine, Borguesia and This Heat to name a few. I played mostly between the bands after this, my set included: Tarantula Hawk, Nation of Ulysses
Throbbing Gristle, Submission Hold…

Line up: ORMO + Brontis, BOBBY BRAY, TRON and MONOGATARI with two other Dj’s following the bands when they were finished, who were Diego y Pichis and both played more techey-house sets.

Later that night, after the show had finished we headed over to a little place called Bahia Bar. Super fun crowd, I totally liked the vibe there. Right by the entrance to the bar there was a table stacked full of zines!

It was here I met Don Charles and discovered Corona Boreal, a new contemporary art and fashion magazine of which Don Charles is an editor. He is also the creator of a fanzine called Otherness. Both are super cool and we ended up buying the holiday pack which came with limited edition prints/posters and some awesome stickers!

What a fucking crazy 48 hours! Only two days in Mexico City thus far and so much had already happened! An insane amount of awesome people and so much love!

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Merrill Nisker, better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian musician and performance artist. She recently played a Dj set at Black Box in Tijuana and it was fucking amazing! She takes performance to the next level: flamboyant performance art, eccentric costuming, pyrotechnics, burlesque, there were even a couple Lucha Libre dudes who came on stage about half way through her set – totally surreal and gender bending. I really appreciate her effort to question gender roles and the ideas of feminine vs. masculine. Thank you for being brash and keeping it fucking real!

I was asked the day before the show if I’d be available to drive Peaches from Tijuana to the San Diego airport and of course I said yes! I haven’t ever been so excited to wait in the line to cross the border. After the show I picked Peaches up in my 94′ Toyota Corolla and we headed towards la linea. My boyfriend and I had a nice chat with her and got her to the airport in time for her early morning flight. Peaches is super humble, down to earth, and is an amazing human = total inspiration. Photos below courtesy of Cari Veach.

Peaches’ new single ‘BURST!’ is out now via Boysnoize Records! Produced by Boysnoize and Alex Epton aka XXXchange, the EP is available now digitally and will be released in North America November 6th. Video directed by Vice Cooler.


She also just released her first feature film Peaches Does Herself. The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September.

“The film largely takes place on intricately connected sets. It begins with a philosophical lecture that is rudely interrupted by Peaches, who is spurred on by the advice of a sixty-five-year-old stripper to transform into a musician with magical sexual powers. As the story takes the shape of an operetta, Peaches’ popularity grows and she seeks to gratify her fans’ desires by becoming transsexual. She falls in love with a beautiful she-male, but when her heart is broken she must dig deep to find out what she desires and who she truly is. All of this is set to an electro-rock score performed by an ever-growing band, and accompanied by a host of fantastical dancers. The ‘fourth wall’ is only broken at the finale, as Peaches tricycles away, up the street, with a new-found freedom.” -TIFF

Recently while in Berlin she co-wrote a song and shot a guerrilla style video with Simmone Jones, artists and activists called “Free Pussy Riot“. The song is in support of the jailed members of the Russian, feminist, punk-rock band Pussy Riot.

“Russia’s Pussy Riot is an all-female collective, sometimes numbering as many as 10, who wear brightly coloured dresses, tights and balaclavas. On February 21st, some members of the collective performed a song at the altar of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church asking ‘Theotokos’ (the Virgin Mary) to ‘chase Putin away,’ to protest his third presidency bid in March.”

“After less than a minute, guards escorted them outside. The short-lived protest was shot and posted on YouTube. It appears to show five participants.”

“On March 3rd, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, both mothers of young children, were arrested and charged with premeditated hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility. On March 16th, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, was also arrested and charged. They have been incarcerated ever since.” -Rolling Stone

On October 10th Yekaterina Samutsevich was freed on appeal but a Moscow court upheld prison sentences for Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. Read more.

||| SIGN THE PETITION |||
||| WATCH THE VIDEO “FREE PUSSY RIOT!”|||

Peaches will be playing San Diego Tuesday October 23 at The Belly-Up Tavern in Solano Beach!!!

Here’s the entire photo set from Tijuana’s performance! All photos courtesy of Cari Veach.

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and just to bring it back a bit xoi…

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In the back of Hunt & Gather we have a callejón or little alley. Perfect for making a mess, so I’ve gotten into tie-dying silk. The silk blouse or shirt is a perfect candidate for this process: clean lines and very absorbent. We’ve done two batches by now, the first was about ten items and the second about 25. The images below are examples of what has been created. Originally the blouse on the left was completely white, which is the best to work with with consideration to the brightness of color. My favorite part of this process is the un-doing of the rubberbands. The contrast of color becomes visible. Aside from the change in color, myself and Zoe Crenshaw have been making alterations on these pieces; taking off sleeves, adding studs, creating new hem lines- in other words, putting a modern twist on basic shapes. Each one is unique, this style available and made for both men and women.

The image to the right is my first successful tie-dye on silk (and has already been sold). The necklace is made out of Tagua nuts which are seeds from a palm tree that is typically found in northern South America. We have a variety of hand-made jewelry at the shop. My co-worker Jess Lambard, is the designer of the jewelry line Found Pieces, which focuses on re-purposing anything from rattle snake vertebrae, rat skulls, turquoise, quartz and leather which are then made into wear-able pieces.

Hunt & Gather is open from 11-7 Sunday thru Thurday and 11-9 on Friday and Saturday. We currentley have pre-sale tickets for the 16 year anniversary celebration of SIESTA FIESTA BOAT PARTY! happening this Saturday, October 6th. Check out this line-up!!! DOC MARTIN [Sublevel/LA], SOLAR [Sunset/SF], JOE BICKLE [Animal Club/LA], JENILUV [Making Shapes/LA], CHUY FRESNO [Art of Sound/SD], PAUL NAJERA [Lost & Sound/SD], CRIS HERRERA [Art of Sound/SD].

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Wake up early.
Moments of self reflection, realization and appreciation.

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Hunt & Gather has been a consistent positive driving force in my life for the last three years. Owners Lee Reynolds and Zoe Crenshaw are an awesome pair. These two carry a flair for future fashions and music and are both talented with an array of skills. Lee and Zoe have been friends of mine for years – I began working at H&G shortly after it opened. I am ecstatic to be a part of this unique shop and so proud of my friends for creating such an awesome idea.

Hunt & Gather’s 3 year anniversary is on Saturday May 19th!!! For more information on the party check out the FB Event page here.

“A vintage boutique reminiscent of shops in San Francisco, Notting Hill and New York, Hunt & Gather brings locals an incredible selection of garments and accessories as well as reconstructed vintage items.” -Discover SD

Some local designers who currently have their work in the shop include: Found Pieces, Grammatique, Juju, Pop Rock, and The Serene Collection.

Oakland based artist/musician Billy Sprague currently has art work for sale at Hunt & Gather as well as a V/A sampler tape from his label Sanity Muffin. This 90 minute tape is filled to the brim with sounds from: Odd Nosdam, Kraanium, Perpeteia, Hondo, Travis Wyche, Drape, A.C. Way, Torture Corpse, Hondo+Galena on the A-side and Lissom, Bre’r + Odd Nosdam, Engines, Naked Lights. Jims, Selaroda, Gears, Galena, Born To Kill & Gog on the B. A lush full color double sided fold out insert with art by Chicago’s font & gnome mastermind Hydeon.

Sprague’s current musical projects include Naked Lights and solo/duo recordings under the name Galena. As an artist he is recently fixated on graphite, india ink and mural work; attracted to naturally found textures, shapes and patterns, most work is based on dreams and the fusion of psychedelic mutated formations within imaginative natural environments.

Other artist’s who currently have work on display at Hunt & Gather are Kandice Guzman and Gil Dominguez.

Musical selections for Hunt & Gather’s 3 year anniversary party include Blackass, Mikey Lion, Jon Doss, and Lee Reynolds. Lee aka Dr. Indulgent recently won a mixtape contest to play at Lightning in a Bottle art and music festival in Irvine at the end of May.

Hunt & Gather offers men’s and women’s vintage, new and up-cycled clothing, accessories, vinyl, art and more. It is located at 2871 University Avenue and is open seven days a week. You can vote for Hunt & Gather in CityBeat’s makeover contest here.

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Bobby and I just celebrated two wild years of our event Makeout Weird-
Thanks to Chris Woo (Titanium Exposure) for taking some awesome photos of us. Originally these photos were to be used as a press release for the SD Union Tribune, however they never ran the article- I will assume that Freak Sauce and Monsterpussy may cause an intense reading situation for some San Diegans…

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“OK, this month is going to be insane!!

First of all, in an unprecedented move, The Whistle Stop will be modified for the night to include 4 projectors and screens, as well as quadraphonic sound. The four screens on opposite walls form a single apparatus for live sound/visual performance!

A 3D environment (which can be altered as it streams) will be utilized during Penis Hickey‘s set. It should be mentioned that setting up a system that can process 4 combined video outputs which can be manipulated with real-time controls is no small thing, let alone in 3D and controlling audio at the same time. The set-up is largely Cameron Bailey‘s work, and all the performances are meant for the set-up.

The performers embody a bridge between evolving new media in academia (UCSD) and down and dirty experimental performance in the real world.

To make some of the content that will be incorporated, these cats gained access to a LadyBug camera – which are used to make the street view on Google Maps. The night will feature circuit bent electronics as a real-time control for video, cymatics demonstrations in 3D, crazy break beat audio/video performance (think Aphex Twin on psychedelics), and sound suits as instruments for spacialization.

We are so excited to have Mike Gao as part of the night! We anticipate he will be using software he built for real-time control. This guy is a madman!

This is going to be a first for many things, and hopefully it will all work. Come see media evolve right before your eyes, while having adult beverages!

The walls of the Whistle Stop will be graced by Gabe’s collection of portraits, which he acquired over several visits to the Koby’s Swap Meet – they’ll be up for a few weeks, enjoy! A family dressed in all white, gangsters posing with guns, sexy situations, and interesting hairdos in the early 80′s, are some of the gems!

The night will also see the unveiling of a new drink at the Whistle Stop: The Weird Güero! A perfect way to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of Makeout Weird!” -Bobby Bray

21+ // No Cover! // FB Event Page

Some sounds from Mike Gao! Check this guy out, he is so future space radical!

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I’ll be doing some video projections at the next Skin Tight, happening Saturday April 7th at Whistle Stop Bar in South Park.

Super excited for this line-up!
On the decks:

DJ KAOS (DFA/Jolly Jams), Mark E. Quark, and Ethan Hull.

“DJ Kaos (DFA/RONG/K7/ex Terranova), is a dance music producer and DJ, from Berlin, Germany & a member of Ghostcauldron. His first single was a collaboration with Ash Ra Tempel’s Manuel Göttsching (of 1984 E2-E4 fame.) He has performed across the northern hemisphere & released original music – on such seminal dance labels as Eskimo, Kitsune, Playhouse – as well as early singles for Rong Music & now Rong/DFA.
His remixes have proven in demand, remixing everyone from !!! (Chk Chk Chk) to Roxy Music to the New Young Pony Club. Kaos is a part of the exclusive K7 Records DJ Kicks mix series with his eclectic mix released in 1995, as well as his full-length solo LP released on K7 in 2005 featuring such vocal talents as Erlend Øye, Matt Safer (the Rapture) and Cpt. Comatose. He also participated in the Faith Records “Collectors Series” with a mix CD entitled “Danse, Gravite Zero” created with Sal Principiato of the legendary NYC group Liquid Liquid.”

Bobby Bray recently wrote about Skin Tight and Mark E. Quark for the San Diego Reader, below is the full article:

“DJ Mark E. Quark recalls Len Paul, owner of Soma, telling him things like ‘play more industrial,’ and “you’re playing too much of that techno shit.” Quark admits he pretty much ignored the suggestions, “As long as people were dancing, and the dance floor was packed, I felt like I was doing a good job.” Saturday nights at Soma was Quark’s first residency, circa 1989.

On a weekday morning, over some coffee in front of Le Stats on Park, Quark (Mark Hanson) recounts countless DJ adventures, including a rave on the streets of LA he played with Aphex Twin, for the filming of a movie called Strange Days. With army tanks and 10,000 party-people in attendance, they shot and re-shot new years countdowns to the end of the millennium (in 1994).

‘It was a horrible movie, I ended up watching it and was like eew,’ he says with light-hearted disgust.

Quark speaks of the strange (no-dance) days that occurred in San Diego during the 90′s. He says promoters held after-parties between 2am and 6am, and it was actually illegal to dance. The events were even policed to make sure nothing that could be construed as dancing took place. This spawned a local dance revolution of sorts, says Quark, ‘Kind of like the occupy protest – it was the right to dance protest.’

One of these protest-parties took place on the bay, aboard a party-boat called Neptune’s Palace, which was attached to a floating castle you could get ferried to. Quark refers to the event as a “naked rave.” Apparently he deejayed the non-nude part of the barge, but confesses he did in fact spend some time in the naked castle, although not in his birthday suit. The castle-barge combo had legal problems of its own and no longer exists.

Adding to the list of local dance clubs he has been a part of, including Playskool, G-Force, and Moonshake, Quark has recently started a night called Skin Tight at the Whistle Stop in South Park. Co-organized by Ethan Hull, the new monthly event involves elements of disco, although Quark warns that he tries to stay away from labeling.

‘I think disco music to me means something completely different. The type of disco that I’m interested in is exploring when disco became underground again, back in 1979.’ He refers to a history where disco was consciously killed in Chicago, creating a different environment.

‘I want to break records that have been favorites of mine throughout my entire history that I never really had a chance to play, and Skin Tight is a perfect avenue to do that.’

Although Quark is not philosophically opposed to deejaying with software, he has been spinning all vinyl sets at Skin Tight, and has amassed quite a collection over the years.

As dancing is currently still legal, you can get tight with Mark E. Quark, Ethan Hull, and DJ Kaos Saturday April 7.”



-Skin Tight flier designed by Lee Reynolds.
-For more information on Skin Tight, check out the FB Event Page here.