14,000 And Counting ... Milk Cartons For Missing Childhoods

The rain swept through last night and today broke bright and sunny ... just about 72 and Sunny, in fact. I went for my morning beach walk and there was a giant milk carton down in Windward Plaza, filled with 12,800 individual milk cartons representing the immigrant children in our shameful current government's custody. The sign explaining it all got messed up in the rain, I was told by a security guard, but he filled me in. This installation is brought to us by the marketing firm of 72 and Sunny and the public art organization Now Art L.A., to bring awareness to this absolute crisis, and get people involved by signing a petition at 14000andcounting.org. Please, please do.

There are over 14,000 children separated from their families as we speak, and the number is only growing. Christmas is fast approaching, and it's unfathomable to imagine that these innocent little kids will be on their own in some scary government facility, with many families not even knowing exactly where their kids are. Imagine!

I recently did some work on an upcoming documentary feature about deported families, and my assignment was to work out a ride-along with ICE agents. I had to do some Oscar worthy acting on the phone in order to make that happen, as I mainly just wanted to punch everyone in the face and wake them up to the trauma they're causing to families all over our country. Then you listen to them and realize that they really believe they are doing morally upright work, and they really are keeping America safer by ripping apart families and giving people the boot. It's such a sticky situation, because it would be great if everyone could escape tyranny the legit way and get all their paperwork in order and all of that, but when you're facing terrible situations and even death to your family for any number of reasons around the globe, and you know there's this place with a Statue of Liberty raising a lantern of welcome to refugees and immigrants from wherever they come, you probably just want to go for it, and I don't blame them. This country is entirely made up of immigrants, unless you're Native American. Some people seem to always forget that fact. And that IS what has the potential to make it great. Global ideas coming together to make a better whole ... wasn't that the idea?

There HAS to be a better solution that putting tiny children in internment camps (which they are) with no idea what is happening or where their parents are. It has to be terrifying, especially in another language. Please take a moment to reflect on this. Remember these throwback milk cartons in your face in the middle of the Venice Boardwalk (I love you, Venice) this weekend. It will be lit up at night right behind the big Venice Sign holiday lighting tomorrow night, as another reminder that these kids most likely will not be back with their families by Christmas (C'mon, Christmas miracles!). Sign the petition. Help. Remember your humanity while you're out having an awesome weekend. CARE.

Thank you to 72 and Sunny, NowArt LA, and 14000andcounting.org for this important message.

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!

An Ocean Avenue Installation

 *Update 10/18: I walked by this morning and it's all gone. Even the bushes. In less than 24 hours.
   Sorry, dudes. I was into it. Keep your art going!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed an increasingly larger homestead/art installation growing at the corner of Ocean Avenue and South Venice Boulevard. It's clearly a little colony of houseless neighbors, creating their shelter in the bushes located there ... and decorating it for passersby to enjoy.

Not everyone is enjoying it, however. A woman at the Farmer's Market last Friday told me that she'd been making calls to have it cleared out, but to no avail. She said she was told that you can actually get arrested yourself if you try to remove the things from the property. She felt it was a more nefarious deal, and that police might have been told by council people and/or those who want to see the big homeless housing development happen on Venice Boulevard to leave it be. To let things get as bad and obvious as possible to get more people to sign on for the housing project. Hmm.

I don't know about all of that, but I do know that it is some of the more creative construction happening around Venice these days (other than the Frank Gehry house finally going up!). I'm about to make friends and ask if there's room for me, as it seems to be about the only remotely reasonable housing currently available around these parts (Seriously. Where are all my cool landlord friends hiding?!), and this is where I want to be. What are the rules, anyway? You can just put up a tipi wherever you want and live in and landscape around it? Cool. I had an offer off an unused geodesic dome that its owner said I could borrow if I could find land to put it on ... out of the box, but at least some people are still being innovative in Venice.

My friend said they must be rookies, as no one who lives on the streets is ever trying to attract that much attention to themselves. I've seen police there talking to the residents a few times now, and have thought their time there must be up, only to pass by the following morning to see it all still intact. I'm not mad at it. We all know Venice real estate is almost evilly ridiculous as of this writing, and you do what you have to do. Venice has long been a beacon for travelers of all kinds, and certainly one for artists. This corner appears to be for both. And art is for everyone.

I'm curious what other Venice folks think about this ... let's discuss.

Balls For Hope!

When it's cloudy at the beach, it's time for Field Trips. Saturday was all overcast, so it was time to go check out the balls in MacArthur Park downtown. You might remember a few years back when all the lifeguard towers along the beach from Venice to Santa Monica were brightly painted in an art installation for the Projects Of Hope project. Well, they're back with another massive installation of giant beach ball type spheres placed in the lake in MacArthur Park.

School children and youth from all over Los Angeles hand painted all the spheres with brightly colored flowers and fish, and as the nearly 3,000 spheres float around, the look of the lake constantly changes. It's pretty surreal. And awesome.

When we approached the park, it was like when a kid spies the tall rides at an amusement park in the distance and gets all excited. I saw bright dashes of color through the trees and got all excited! The scale is truly impressive, and the riot of color instantly buoyed your spirits. Imagine being this little duck swimming around among all these colorful orbs - it's probably pretty cool.

A big Spanish language festival was also happening in the park, but the spheres were the main attraction. Folks from all walks of life were down there taking pictures, picnicking, and enjoying the mind blow that is this cool project.

When the spheres come out of the lake (the time frame of the project is kind of vague - says it's up for "four weeks" with no exact dates - so you'd better go soon!), they'll be distributed around to various  schools, hospitals, shelters and places like that to brighten and beautify their surroundings.

I love the Portraits Of Hope installations and their grand Christo-like scale. I also love the name of the project, as when you are there standing among all that color and unity and people coming together to make something beautiful ... you simply can't help but to feel hope.

And I hope you get there while it's there!