The 2015 Abbot Kinney Festival - A Locals Reunion

When the sun rose yesterday morning, you just knew it was going to be a great day for the 31st Abbot Kinney Festival. It was HOT, it was bright, and everyone was all the way ready for it. I live right around the corner from Abbot Kinney, so you could feel the anticipation (and hear the tent poles clanking) all night long leading up to the big day.

Booths lined the boulevard from Venice Boulevard to Main Street, where you could purchase or learn about pretty much everything under the sun. I have a friend who saves her jewelry budget all year to get new things at the Festival, and this year probably gave her a huge haul, as there were so many great artisans selling their original pieces. You could buy art, soap, clothes, chimes, hot sauce, or even get a massage ... the only problem is having enough time to see and do everything - which I never do.

The Abbot Kinney Festival is great because it ends up being a big reunion of your favorite Venice locals, many of whom now totally avoid Abbot Kinney these days, due to its influx of chain stores and scenesters. We again had an advantage this year to meeting up with our locals by having the "Locals" stage located at Andalusia.

With the School Of Rock kids kicking it off, then Kim Michaelowski, then our Venice Symphony Orchestra, it definitely was the place to find your favorite people. In fact, the line-up was so good that it actually made it hard to leave and see any of the rest of the Festival! A good problem to have. We had the pleasure of watching our dear Lacey Cowden make a whole slew of new fans, while accomplishing the major feat of getting a festival crowd to be stone silent while they listened to Cowden weave her musical spells. It was awesome.

The Spirit Of Venice Awards were appropriately given out at the Locals stage, and I was so happy to see my friend, Edizen Stowell of Venice Paparazzi, receive her richly deserved honor.

WIth a break in the music, it was time for a quick lap to see what and who else we could see. The kids area down at Westminster was very popular for families, though the Ferris wheel looked a little rickety for my taste. Also on Westminster was an area for the chalk artists, a Gary Palmer spearheaded project that hopes to become its own fun festival soon.

Kids were taking part in a big colorful chalk mandala, exactly the kind of participation and color you want to see during your neighborhood festival.

After a quick spin through the Roosterfish, and stopping every few feet to greet a new old friend, we made it back to Andalusia to see Matt Ellis and his band blaze through their set.  Ellis organized the Locals stage, so it was beautifully curated with all our talented friends playing. His own set was a true highlight of the day, as our gang all congregated and danced around. Ellis and his wife/bandmate Vavine arrived in Venice ten years ago exactly, and the Festival was their welcome to town, so it was extra special to have them playing at it.

With all the hoopla of the day, I have to envy a kid who can sleep this soundly through it all. Beckett wins! I bet he had awesome dreams.

The great National Anthem played next, a fun and purely rocking set. My friend Quinn's reaction was not a good review of the band, it just got loud.

I kept running into long, lost faces, and to me, that is the very best part of the Abbot Kinney Festival. We always call it "Venice Thanksgiving", and this year was no different. People will avoid AKB all year, but they'll come back for the Festival. And they'll have a blast.

It's great to live right around the corner now, so we can have a headquarters. A place to take a break, use the bathroom, get out of the sun, take a nap, make road drinks ... I did none of that myself, but it was nice to know I could. There was too much to do to hang out at home!

Our friends and neighbors Nocona headlined the Locals stage, and have quickly become one of our favorite bands after complete throw down shows at block parties earlier this year. We love them.

I also love that their kids and their kids' friends all play instruments, and are gearing up to take on the Locals stage for years to come. This year it was enough for them to watch their parents rock.

The sun began to set on the 2015 Festival, but things only got more heated up. Crowds flocked to all the watering holes and beer gardens up and down the street, DJs took over for bands, and everyone either kept dancing, or stumbled off to watch the lunar eclipse go down (I did the former and totally forgot about the eclipse until it was too late - oh, well.).

The annual sweep down the street by the lights and sirens came along to clear out the people, and with it, the clanking of the tent poles dismantling for another year.

It was a completely beautiful day in every way, made most so by all the beautiful, wonderful people that came out to celebrate our home. I don't think of the Abbot Kinney Festival as a celebration of the boulevard, but as a celebration of the man, Abbot Kinney. As an all day opportunity to toast the cool dude who created the playground where we now dwell, and thank him for it.

On days like yesterday, you forget about any differences among us and our individual ideas and ideals for Venice, and just get down with your people. Gratefully.

Cheers to another year of the Abbot Kinney Festival, and to all of us - for being there, and for being Venice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day From Venice!

The Windward Circle is all decked out in green for St. Patrick's Day! And the first person I saw today was Venice Irishman, Gary Palmer!

I think the greening was done by Jules Muck (who is never mad at green) and friends, and I think it's great. The Circle is such a centerpiece of town, and it's been dominated for far too long by the off-center dismembered Black Dahlia sculpture by the late (so he won't know it's gone) Robert Graham - that no one I've ever talked to even likes. Certainly not as a representation of Venice. That thing needs to be auctioned off, and the great circle be turned into a real town center. Maybe a little gazebo/band shell in the middle, that our Venice Symphony Orchestra could call home? Maybe a sweet fountain that looks like it has something to do with Venice? Maybe more graffiti walls? Rotating public art installations? I don't know, but it hasn't been used to its full potential yet for sure.

Until today. Today it gave us a bright spot of the spirit of fun that we've always been known for, that gave everyone passing by a smile and a touch of the Irish luck/blarney to start their day.

I'll take that over Lucky Charms or green beer anyday.

Have fun (and if you're going to Brennan's, get going. The line was down the block at 6 am)!

June's Venice Art Crawl - All Mapped Out

Thursday was the June edition of the Venice Art Crawl, and it was as much fun as ever. It was also - as ever - nearly impossible to see it all, though I did keep on trucking enough to get a good bit in before just giving in to the party of it all.

It was not even dark out yet when I hit the information booth to pick up my map and they were already all gone. This is either bad planning or so wildly popular they ran out even before nightfall. Probably both, but VAC, you need more maps. The various map locations should have stacks of them too - none did. This makes it hard to know where to go ... luckily, I cajoled one from a couple that could share. The very last one. The volunteers were a little snippy about it too, saying to me, "Take a picture (of the map), it will last longer", and to another person, "It's not my job to give out information." Um, yes. It is. Anyway, it was good that I made new friends sharing my map and pointing people where to go, but a map would have been way better for them. Next time ...

I hit the Art Walls first, as there was a group called the "Setting The Pace Foundation" painting on the walls for the Art Crawl. It was cool, and the sunset is always a wonderful backdrop.

I always have to swing by the skatepark to see what's going down, so I did.

Small World Books is right there, so I went in to check out the new works by Deb Loucks, get a new book ...

... and say hi to the artist, enjoying friends and family at The Sidewalk Cafe.

 The sunset was now threatening to outshine all the art, so it's good that it all carried on after dark.

I headed over to "Emerged at Alpha," a space on Market Street that had girls selling flower crowns, live music and a whole bunch of art. It was cool, but I didn't recognize anybody.

It was fun to see a great mix of people, once again coming together all because of art.

I knew there was a Venice Symphony Orchestra fundraiser going on over at Horizon, with a group show curated by Jules Muck behind the house with her mural on it.

What I did not know was that the Orchestra wasn't really playing (only a 3 piece could make it this night), but there were naked ladies getting body painted in there, so that seemed to satisfy all who strolled through looking for some classical music.

It looked kind of fun. I may volunteer next time (for being painted on, not handing out maps).

I always enjoy chatting with the artists that set up in the parking lot next to Hama Sushi, but I always feel bad for them because it is almost pitch dark in there, nearly impossible to see the work. We need to get some lighting in there for them next time. Arist Niciforos had little tiny painting that had 3D waves coming off the beach scenes ... I got one for $5, and was happy to see that it can be a magnet on the fridge art piece.

Set up next to him was a very smart guy whose name I lost, but whose art reminded me of Gaudi. In fact, he told me all about the church in Spain designed by Gaudi that has taken 100 years to build and it still isn't. The conversation was enlightening, even though I could barely see them.

Set up outside the parking lot, getting some street light on the subject, was a guy who said his name was Ant, who had some "controversial" pieces. I just found them to be true. Another good conversation was had, and then I was late to meet friends at The Townhouse.

After some catching up and refreshments, we had more ground to cover. I wanted to see the "Skate The Sky" pieces at Venice Originals, but the place was all locked up tight, so I stopped by the packed Lightning Bolt shop, where people were crammed in listening to Kathleen Myers, but too full to really see the art. Next it was Gotta Have It, who featured work by Theresa Flowers and music by the ever-ready Paul Chesne.

We watched Chesne's set from up in the new little nook gallery overlooking the shop, which was great.

It became kind of our own headquarters that we could shout out the window from to people on the sidewalk to come up and join us.

As always happens, we'd again forgotten to eat, and that had to happen before anymore art (or drinks) could be had). As happens while you look at the art, kitchens tend to close, so we looked at more art anyway. The guys that set up out in front of The Bank Of Venice were doing cool stuff with spray paint...

But this guy (whose card I also lost) was on a new level, with a laser pen thing that colored in the images as a black light showed it appear. It was trippy, and I'm always a sucker for live painting.

There was SO much to see and do, that it was funny when I met a reader of mine (Hi!), who asked if I would see more this time than I did last, since I'd mentioned in that article the difficulty of getting around to it all when you keep bumping into friends to catch up with and stuff. The answer was that I believe I saw even less this time, but had even more fun! After a quick bite at Hal's (where they launched their new gallery), we went all the way over to West Adams, but still kind of Venice, as we visited the Mid City Yacht Club, owned and operated by Commodore Noah Farrell (of Abbot's Habit). Venice is a feeling ... of people being free and expressing themselves through their art, whichever medium it takes shape with. And you can take it with you.

Another whole night of art and expression, wound up with all Venice people all the way across the city, but that feeling carried with us the whole way. And next time ... I promise to see way more. With the help of the ample maps that I'm sure will be available to all.  Thanks again, VAC!

Art Crawl Is The Best

I love the Venice Art Crawl. I do. It's so fun every time, you always see people you know, and you always see some cool art that you'd like to have for yourself.  It reminds me of old First Fridays, when it was by and for the locals, pre-the shit show it has now become, that we all avoid.

The VAC feels old school because the pop up gallery operators (from shops to private galleries and homes) all have a sense of fun, drinks are served, music is played, and I actually saw MOSTLY Venetians at this last March one ... so many that it was actually a problem if you wanted to see all the art, because you kept stopping to catch up with friendly faces. Thus, I didn't get around to even a small fraction of the nearly 40 stops.

My first encounter was with a young man named Joey Thompson and his "Interactive Inspirational Art". He made what he called "Story kits" ... a frame made out of palm tree wood, with 52 blocks with art on them, and 52 matching blank blocks. The idea is that you give the painted one away, then take the blank one and write the story (however you like, so you can be creative too - he used pen and Sharpie, I might go more painty/flowery than that, so your frame winds up looking great) of how and who you gave it to on there. It's a very sweet idea, and you can get a kit from Thompson at clothes2theheart@yahoo.com. He also makes roses out of palm leaves, which he presented me with as I took my leave. Art with a heart is the very best kind.

Another tent at the "Unique Boardwalk" stop featured bright, black lit pieces in Dayglo colors ... very Boardwalk indeed.

As were the vibrant skateboard decks also at this stop, all too pretty to ride.

Frank Strasser was showing at Hama Sushi, and then it was time to say hello to the Venice Symphony Orchestra friends at their fundraiser at the Containers on Main Street. In a very non-Art Crawl vibe, I was told that the Orchestra was not allowed to play that night because of some random ordinance I didn't understand. Dumb. So we had a beer and looked ahead to more music from them soon.

Jules Muck just finished a new mural on the side of this Main Street building. Every time I see a Venice building covered in an expansive mural, it makes me so happy. All buildings should have murals, it would be so much more fun-looking everywhere.

The Dennis Hopper mural faces the new Muck one, and a guy had a drone camera flying around catching the whole scene as it swooped around over our heads. That thing is super cool. (You can kind of see it in mid-air if you squint.)

Lightning Bolt and Venice Originals were both having fun parties, with snacks and beers, as everyone seemed to serving up tall PBR's on this night. To the point where Pabst should consider being an official sponsor.

The scene at Gotta Have It was spilling out on to the sidewalk, where even more PBR's were consumed as revelers admired the art of Miss Lacey Cowden (you will recognize it from The Hart and The Hunter's walls).

Cowden was really extra-exhibiting her talents, as she also played a full set of her story-telling ballads for the packed room. It was awesome. I love my friends.

From there, it was on to The Ave to see the Venice photography of Chuck Katz ... and to drink still more PBR's. Packed again, and a total blast to be there with random fun friends, some that I hadn't seen in literally years. People were OUT.

I regret to even say that the posse next moved only a couple doors down to The Townhouse to close out the night. Most VAC stops shut down at 10, and it was well past that by then. I'm mad at myself for missing other great art stops, like Sunny Bak and Ray Rae and about 30 others ... but the people I saw more than made up for that. Next time I will plan better, and factor in time to allow for surprise encounters ... or just drag them along. It's ALL good.

The next Venice Art Crawl is June 19th, and you really don't want to miss it. Any of it. Especially if you've lived here a while and miss your O.G. pals ... chances are you'll have a super fun reunion (sponsored by Pabst).

The Fall Venice Art Crawl

I love the Venice Art Crawl. It's such a good night every time, everyone seems to be in high spirits and excited ... all in the name of art!  Last night was the Crawl for fall, and we covered a lot of ground. It's best to do it on bikes, as the various stops on the Crawl are pretty spread out around town.

It kicked off with a gorgeous - though muted in a more autumn palette - sunset that rivaled much of the art that we were about to see. Clouds hid the full moon, but you could tell it was there. Rowdy!

The best thing to do is go to pick up a map outside of Danny's Deli and go from there. Danny's had some art upstairs and a musical Improv group downstairs, and Cairo Cowboy, Kiki Designs, Gotta Have It and Gumbo Kinney all did too. More and more people are participating each time, and the art changes out of course, so it's a different experience each time the VAC takes place.

Down the bike path we went to the Cadillac Hotel who were hosting a very cool exhibit called "Mirror, Mirror" where local professional artists paired up with a local homeless person to create pieces from oil paintings to drawings on burlap, from skate and surfboards as canvas for paintings to sculptures of heads. The sense of pride from both parties was tangible, and helped make clear how very healing art can be. Powerful stuff.

From there it was on to the Venice Breeze Suites who had music and art on their rooftop lounge, where it was tiny and packed and stunningly beautiful.

Shulamit Gallery had seemingly nothing going on and nobody to explain what wasn't going on, so it was on to the bright fun of the art at Canal Club, featuring very Venice superhero surfers and sea-like amoeba paintings. 

James Beach had some C.A.V.E. Gallery works and a DJ - and drinks. There was a great spread at "Streamlined" on North Venice, with art works by Dillon and a ton of good snacks. Good hosts!

Over on Venice Boulevard there was a little show of photographs of Big Bill, everyone's favorite Venice mechanic, who is now being forced out of his longtime garage. The photos of Big Bill made that already sad and wistful truth even more stark.

Back on Windward, Hama had some bright paintings by John Christensen displayed outside, and next door was a photo exhibit of Red Bull Flutag events. There was even a sand mermaid on the sidewalk outside of Venice, bringing some Boardwalk to the street.

The very best part of this edition of the VAC I've saved for last, as it was awesome.

My old friend Jason Teague has built a home complex out of shipping containers on Main Street, fronted by a huge mural by our local street artists. Inside (if you got in, there was a verrrry long line) all those same artists had pieces hanging for silent auction to benefit our Venice Symphony Orchestra. That's right, we now have a Symphony Orchestra, led and conducted by Wesley Flowers. They play everything "from Beck to Bach", and were in performance in the courtyard in the middle of the complex.

As everyone enjoyed the pulled pork sandwiches and cold brews (and Dogtown Coffee) being served, the PACKED crowd circled around the orchestra to hear selections from Mozart and yep, "Two Turntables And A Microphone" from Beck, orchestra style. It was so great. I'm so proud of these guys for having a beautiful idea and making it happen (You will hear more about the VSO very soon).

The VAC is so great for Venice because this is one happening that you actually see people from the neighborhood, like First Fridays used to be. I couldn't go two feet without bumping into another fantastic Venice person, also having an excellent time and loving it.

I didn't make it to every location along the Crawl, but we did pack a lot in. I feel so lucky and grateful to live in such a vibrant, talented, creative community, and the VAC spotlights those characteristics better than just about anything we have going on. The next one is in December, and promises to be another art extravaganza. Join in the creation or the appreciation - both are extra rewarding.

Thanks to the VAC for yet another blast. Love it.