The Light Of Venice

We were recently shooting down on the Boardwalk for our documentary, 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED, when I finally really got down and looked at the wonderful tiles embedded in the benches all along Ocean Front Walk. Each depicts a classic time and place in Venice, and show what has always made our Community special and unique.

I know many of us feel that is all being threatened these days on several fronts, and that we often feel helpless to create positive change and reject the negative ... but we're not. We all have a voice, and you can exercise yours this weekend during the Venice Neighborhood Council elections by showing up to vote for the people that deeply care about the spirit of Venice, and wish to preserve it - not merely profit from it.

I can't be there for everything happening in Venice this weekend, as I'm in Minnesota taking care of things for my ailing Mother, so I extra get that feeling of helplessness ... but I can at least tell you what I think. There have been nefarious forces at work for some time on both the VNC and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, and I really think it's time to clean house in both of those organizations. You may recall the stories about the Chamber not letting Venice Pride use the Venice Sign for the annual sign lighting and party over strictly personal beefs and shady accounting. Well, now they've gone ahead and lit the sign rainbow ahead of Pride - not allowing them to have the countdown or anything - and the "scheduled maintenance" they said they were doing on the sign for the month of June appears to be another lie. Venice Pride had to go ahead and order their own sign as a backup plan, so now there will be a double rainbow during tomorrow's Pride celebration! Pride will never go down without the FUN.

The Chamber also scheduled their "Flower Fest" for the exact same day as Pride, and got the Art Crawl to join them. The Chamber/Flower Fest situation is what started all of the issues with Venice Pride, as the Chamber didn't have enough money in their budget to make it happen last year, so resorted to ever shadier tactics (which they wrongly accused Venice Pride of, hypocritically - and there's plenty of documentation to prove it) to throw the event - that pretty much no one attended. I don't have time to get into all of it here and now, as I'm dealing with pressing family things here, but I will tell you that you can trust me on the fact that I wouldn't cast a single vote for anyone who endorses the Venice Chamber hijinks. Or anyone that values property value or development over Community, creativity, and empathy. Who I WOULD vote for are who the people who share my deep desire to preserve that special light of Venice are voting for:

Community Officer: Jim Robb/Brian Averill
Outreach: Joselyn Williams
Chair of Land Use and Planning Committee: Alix Gucovsky
Vice President: Grant Turck (!!!!!!)
President: Ira Koslow

There are more categories to vote for, and I don't have time to get all the way into it now ... but for those I would definitely err on the side of the longer they have lived in Venice, the more chance they get my vote. Because they simply care more and GET IT more. There is a an all day (10-6) BBQ on Sunday at 1301 Main Street hosted by Robb, Averill, and Gucovsky that you can hit up before or after you vote - or both. Get to know the people that love and care about Venice and want to be stewards of what our late great poet, Philomene Long called "the light of Venice" ...

That the light of Venice

not be extinguished

Nor diminished

nor simply maintained.

But that that light burn, burn, burn

into a boundless luminosity!  

I look forward to hearing that the right people were elected, and that Pride was the best ever this year! Cheers, fun, and LOVE to all Venetians!!! 

*And do check out the marvelous benches, as well as the book about them - Art Tiles At Venice Beach!

A Venice Saturday With Bikers And Burners!

It would be great if someone was visiting Venice for the first time this past Saturday, because they would have walked into what felt like good old Venice ... with fun and festivities for everyone - for free!

Clear blue skies and bright sunshine set the tone for the day. The roar of motorcycles woke the town early as the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Club had their rally set for that afternoon, and they always kick it off with a group ride up the PCH, leaving bright and early - and loudly.

The rally itself felt a bit more sparsely attended than most years, with less bikes ... and for sure less babes, as there was no Miss Venice Vintage contest this year, so the venue was pretty dude heavy. I got there just in time to hear National Anthem rock the place, and split during the Cougar Getting, Jr. band that sounded a whole lot like AC/DC. People enjoyed checking out all the bikes, and the beer lines were well-attended. All looked to be a success ... but the beach was beckoning.

The Rayfield siblings (Dakota and Jackson) were tending bar together at Surfside, so we killed some time there until the sun started to set on the Venice Art Crawl Afterburn edition, which is when it got really spectacular to look at. The Burning Man burners brought a whole bunch of art installations to the beach at Windward Plaza, so the rest of us could get a little piece of desert Playa. The dragon was most impressive.

The Boardwalk was packed with partiers, and locals kept bumping into each other and couldn't stop smiling, because THIS is how we like to think of our Venice. Fun. Creative. Dancing. Art focused. Awesome, really. And PROUD - proud that visitors could be with us and see how Venice is supposed to be.

There was a big music box flame-thrower that served as headquarters for a Karaoke set, where someone was singing some buzzkill Adele when I walked by ... and quickly split down the way where more upbeat jams were being blasted.

There was a little pop up version of the great Rohitash Rao fake album covers show work.

If you needed some psychiatric help - you were covered.

If you felt like dancing in a big electric pineapple - no problem.

If you simply needed a hug - any variety of hug at all - someone would hook you up.

Of course, there were plenty of unofficial hugs to go around also, as every two feet you would bump into someone from Venice that you knew and loved ... even the Kosmick Krusader (Harry Perry) himself was there, looking right at home in front of a spaceship.

Several attractions had platforms for dancing on them, and one had to squeeze in real tight to get some dance partying in ... and it was a blast.

There were several things going on all over town Saturday night, but the more you hung out at the Afterburn, the more you realized you were staying put in Venice (Sorry, Bart Saric/Skatermade! Really wanted to be at the Everything Went Skate film release party ... but downtown!!). Moments like these, with the whole community dancing outside together under a huge moon surrounded by glowing art, are all too rare these days, and you have to stay put and soak them up!

There were little places to chill (inside the Yellow Submarine ... in a "Snailoon" ... on little hovercrafts), but most people were busy rocking out, many in their outfits leftover from Burning Man - only minus the dust. To glance around in any direction rewarded you with views of total and absolute fun.

There was a drum circle keeping time of it all, and that encouraged even more dancing around. Nights like this (and it was on all weekend long!) are truly why we live and love here in Venice, California.

A big bunch of Venice folks wrapped up the evening back at Surfside, with a performance from Jake Klassman, son of Bagel. RAD. Thank you to the V.A.C. and everyone involved with creating this wonderful gift to our Community! LOVE!

The Summer Venice Art Crawl - A Sunset Stroll

The Venice Art Crawl focused on Washington Boulevard for its Summer edition, which was a nice change of pace - and scenery - if a little sparse this time out.

There was a headquarters set up at The Kinney hotel, and the art stops went from there to the beach, with a few too far away for foot outposts going on all the way to Rose.

The Kinney art party was upstairs next to their tiny pool that I had never seen or known about. Artists and friends mingled around a bar, and enjoyed the golden hour lighting. Of the group show happening there, my favorite was Annie Seaton's work. She takes her surf and ocean photography and prints them out on rice paper somehow, paints them with natural indigo dye, and sews the different pieces together, using a whole bunch of talents at once. I loved them. Phantastic Photography by Lily was also cool, featuring her water reflection photos.

There's no time to linger when you've got more art to see, so I left the scenesters at The Kinney to it, and took off toward the beach.

There was a big stretch of wasteland with no art stops on it, which was too bad, as there are a lot of potential venues there on Washington ... maybe next time. The real action was all centered around Washington Square, the end part by the pier. It was a gorgeous night, so there were a bunch of tourist people out anyway, but the Art Crawl made sure that the locals were out galilvanting around too. I hit up Venice Surf & Skate, and admired the ceramic work of John Fukuda from the Temple Of Mediclaytion. I keep meaning to take a class there, and chatting with Fukuda reinforced this intent, as he told me it changed his life. I can dig that.

I kept running into Venice pals, which is really always the best part of the Venice Art Crawl. The sunset was so beautiful right about at this point that it was probably my favorite work of art of the night. The entire Venice Pier was lined with admirers trying to capture the beauty that is always better in person. But we all tried anyway.

Mercede's Grille was full of sunset hour revelers, and the wonderful real deal Venice ladies like Emily Winters were there selling their keepsake of a book Art Tiles At Venice Beach: Graphic History of Venice 1901-2001. The book itself is a fundraiser to preserve the fantastic old tiles on the beach benches. I was extra touched that they gifted me one of the books, and will add it to my library of Venice lore (which I'll hopefully be a part of soon - stay tuned!).

Another highlight of this Crawl was happening in the alley behind L.A. Gastronomy (next door to Mercede's). Live painting was gathering a crowd back there, and street artist Honor was in the midst of creating a mural of Robert DeNiro from Taxi Driver. He kept his fumes mask on for the photo in the time-honored tradition of graffiti artists being anonymous, but I say be known for your awesome work. It was an honor to meet you, Honor.

Around the corner wall, another mural was being done by Showz Art, who was halfway through a rad rendering of Trayvon Martin. Some of the best art in Venice is in alleys, and it's always worth getting off the beaten paths to discover something great. Duck behind this strip of Washington next time you're there ... it's looking good.

The Cow's End was already closed at like 8:00, which was funny because the map said 10:00, but oh, well. A dude was set up out front anyway, and a lot of people were talking to him about his work, so that was good. Fresh air, fresh art.

The VB Surf Shop was featuring work from Maggie Boelter, a Venice local, whose bio says she grew up swimming at Tower 26. Awesome - as was her work of Venice beachy themes.

Priscilla Ortiz and Natalie Strong were showing their stuff at Arbor, where the skateboards were as fun to look at as the art. Wine and snacks were being shared pretty much everywhere, and Arbor was no different. What a great looking shop, check it out if you haven't been in for a while. Aren't they due for a music show there soon too? I believe so.

Next door at Aesthetic Ambition Piercing & Tattoo was the most rocking stop on the Crawl, as a reggae/ska band, Funky AF, was blasting out through the whole neighborhood. There was more art set up outside, but the main deal was folks getting DOWN to the band, especially one shirtless dude in a top hat that was extra feeling it. That's the Venice Vibe, and that's what is great about our town celebrating art - not just for events like the V.A.C., but all the dang time. Everyone was loving it, and it felt like full throttle Summer.

From there I headed over to the new New Deli (which I didn't even know was finally open, and will forever be Sal's to me), but they were shut up tight, well before their map's stated closing time. Lame. Especially as at this point I was feeling that I hadn't eaten yet, and probably would have picked up some stuff from this new New Deli, but nope. Oh, well. There wasn't a whole lot of time left in the Crawl, so I zipped over to Turning Point Pilates to check out the work of Marian Crostic. I'd long heard of Crostic's work, as my brother hangs it all for her when she has exhibitions, and she's lived right on Abbot Kinney forever. Her Pre-Dawn Venice pieces were lovely, as was Crostic ... as was the wine and cheese.

That was that for the Crawl for me this time, as I have a whole lot going on and was just grateful to see some art, some friends, and some gorgeous sights. The next Crawl will be the After-Burn one (September 21-23 in Windward Plaza) and that's always one you don't want to miss, as Burning Man comes to Venice - where it really should still be like Burning Man all the time. The Venice Art Crawl does a lot to help with those vibes, and I really try to never miss it to get that fix.

See you in September, Hippies! XO.

The First Flower Fest Fun - Flower Power!

Flower Fest kicked off its first incarnation on a beautiful Saturday on Rose Avenue in Venice. Flower Fest is a brand new festival put on by the Venice Chamber of Commerce and the Venice Art Crawl folks (and some weed companies for good measure, though real Venice supports the o.g. longtime local medicine providers), with a fun way of showing off some of the best that Venice has to offer.

It was billed as "A Taste Of Venice", so there were a lot of food booths. Local restaurants set up little outposts of their brick and mortar locations, and there was pretty much anything you wanted, from Italian to Asian, from Casa Linda to Great White.

You didn't really get the flower vibe until you passed through all of the restaurant tents, but then there was booth after booth of lovely blooms of all kinds.

You could get flower crowns custom made, you could get them braided right into your hair ... and you could stop traffic with your giant handmade headdress, just like the groovy old hippie days in Venice.

As it was a collab with the Art Crawl, there was also plenty of art on hand.

Artists were live painting murals up and down the blocks, featuring flowers mostly, but also messages of absolute truth.

One of my favorite local artists, Beckett, was also on hand doing some live painting on a canvas set up for kids to go to town on, and his rainbow was my favorite piece I saw all day (and I don't think I was alone in that, as several bystanders stopped to photograph this little boy happily painting away, while taking it very seriously). Teach the children well!

Beckett also started his own art collection, finding a piece he couldn't live without from artist Todd Goodman. The two creatives took time out to pose together, in a summit meeting of two important Venice painters. Awesome.

A stage was set up at the closer to Lincoln end of Rose, festooned with paper flowers and blasting terrible music - at least when we were there. Anxiety-inducing beats were being spun by some D.J. that didn't really know his family audience in the early afternoon, but I heard it got more awesome as the day progressed. It culminated in a performance by Phantogram there in the street on Rose, that I was bummed to have to miss, but heard was great.

I say the more Festivals the merrier, and you really can't go wrong in Venice with food, flowers, art, and music. All the things we love. Plus, a reminder that one of the most important aspects of life is to GROW. It was a little under-attended, possibly because not very many people I talked to had known about it ... it was more a delightful surprise they stumbled on to out on a Saturday bike ride or stroll.

Congratulations to everyone on another cool thing to do in Venice ... may it grow!!!

The May Venice Art Crawl - Shredtastic!

The Spring (and Norwegian National Day! - I care) edition of the Venice Art Crawl was held last night, and was as excellent of an evening as it always is. I'm working on a show that gave me a late start to crawling, but I put on my race-walking shoes and got to see as much art as I possibly could. This time around the VAC was focused on our "Cultural Corridor", as I like to call it, of Venice Boulevard. I started at Beyond Baroque, but it looked like an AA meeting was happening (as it has been on VAC nights before), so I kept on trucking to the Venice Library to get a map. It was there that I found out it WAS a stop on the Crawl, and not an AA meeting at all. Oops. Well, good turnout, Beyond Baroque, I'm sorry I missed it!

The library art part was over by the time I got there, but I understand little kids were painting outside. Dang it, that would have been adorable.  Friends were texting that they were over at Hama Sushi, enjoying sake and the fantastic Venice photographs from Todd Van Hoffman.

It was jam packed inside Hama (sorry, waiters!), so the shindig soon expanded to outside, where The Jewpanese Brothers (Masao Miyashiro and Jeremy Parker) were ripping it up outside under the portable Venice sign that accompanies our various event parades. People were singing and dancing in the street in Windward Circle - exactly as they should be.

My friends wanted me to sit and have some sushi and sake, but I protested, as there was still so much ground to cover and art to see. A man sitting there said, "You're putting a lot of pressure on yourself. Part of the Art Crawl is to see your friends and neighbors and enjoy yourself. It's ok if you don't see everything." That was nice of him ... and I should have listened, because I ended the night starving with no kitchens still open - but I DID get to see a whole lot of art.

The next stop was Surfside, where we were going to see the excellent photos from Ray Rae Goldman, but we got there and were told that he had cancelled due to an injury (hope you're ok, Ray!). There WAS, however, more super cool AR stuff from Cody Nowak and the app ReBlink, who had impressed us at the last Crawl. This time out, he truly blew minds. Classic style paintings hung on the wall, but when viewed through the Ipad (or the app on your phone), they came to life in striking and spectacular fashion. Like, WOW. Suzy Williams had never seen any AR, and I think her face below sums it up.

There were also paintings by Deborah Medina at Surfside that greeted you as you walked in, and that's what I love about the Crawl. So many Venice businesses open up to include art and art lovers, recognizing that ART is a major reason why Venice ever became Venice. They know that over at Small World Books (best book store on the West Side!), where they had the work of Alex Crist AND free guacamole! Win win.

Next door at The Sidewalk Café they were showing the watercolors of Elizabeth Covington and the photos of Dan Kacvinski, with live Japanese classical guitar music on the patio from Ashun that was simply lovely.

With no time to waste and the clock ticking, we sped down Speedway to North Venice Boulevard, where a collective of 10 women were showing their art and jewelry in an apartment so packed with friends and neighbors we could barely squeeze inside, even though there was wine. Leila Jean Levi, Michele Pelletier, Aly Farrow Wilkins, Mildred Rivera, Karen Gladstone, Joanne Silver, Susan Ryza, and Sage Ryza all showed their cool stuff, making friends and sales along the way. We could have stayed and chatted the rest of the night, but, again, time was of the essence.

Moving right along, we hit up James Beach to see work from Lori Petty, but were told that one was also cancelled. Ok, off to Canal Club across the street. Patrick Marston was showing his Venice inspired art in the front of the restaurant ...

... And Todd Goodman was showing his Venice inspired art in the back room. I pretty much wanted every piece, and was happy to see that Goodman was selling his colorful, beachy prints left and right (and I was happy they were prints, because otherwise he'd priced them far too low - get one!). From the pier to the sunsets, Venice is beautifully represented in his work (which was also the poster for this Crawl).

The most fun part of the Crawl is always running into the locals that you know and love. This happened non-stop last night, which was so heart-filling, but also slowed down the racing a bit ... maybe a good thing? A whole crew of us formed and headed over to Sunny Bak's pad, where there was a "Broken Heart Repair Shop" set up.

A nurse (Candy Frost) sat at a little table and listened intently to the lovelorn people lucky enough to snag a time slot, and offered prescriptions for their heart's recovery. Though deeply needed, I was not among those to get an appointment, and the guy that had just finished his own diagnosis had his lips sealed (though with a look of serenity on his face), so I can't really report as to what really went down. And my heart still needs fixing ... but I digress.

Onward! An evening stroll back up Venice Boulevard led us to the Wallspace pop-up happening in the yard at Sea You Are Free space on the corner of Venice and Abbot Kinney. It's always a good time there on the corner, and last night was no different. Wallspace represents several artists, and there were about 10 different ones showing there last night. I think my favorite of the bunch were the street signs repurposed with cooler words from Scott Froschauer ...with more uplifting messages than the typical "Stop" and "Yield" and "No Parking".

Once we realized there was only ten minutes left in most of the VAC stops, we sat down on a bench in the yard and finally took a breather. My friend's son, Declan, was with us much of the Crawl, and after spending the whole evening looking at art and meeting up with O.G. Venice folks, he said, "I'm so happy we live in Venice." This kid was born and raised here, so that made it even more special. He doesn't take if for granted, and every day feels fortunate to be brought up in such an original place that cares about our art and our community. I feel exactly the same way every day, but it's nice to hear it from a kid.

Now starving, we set out to find food only to find that almost every place on Abbot Kinney now closes their dang kitchens at 10:00 p.m. That is lame. Drinks were no problem (and there was even art at The Brig and Wabi Sabi, by Nicole Hoffman and Debbie Zeitman, respectively), but that's never a good idea on a completely empty stomach.

We did an entire lap around Venice - for real - and found that now back on Pacific,  even Mao's was closed! Where is an Art Crawler supposed to eat AND see all the art?! A real conundrum ... with the answer ending up being In and Out. Sigh. No real matter ... it was another fantastic event that we are lucky to have going down in our town. And now the annual Art WALK is this Sunday, so it truly is almost an embarrassment of artistic riches down here. Come see, won't you?

Hooray for the V.A.C.!!