Film Fests Are a Beach

Some of this stuff originally ran on OC Weekly's staff blog, The Blotter. Nobody ever cares about the opening speeches at film festivals, but here's a synopsis for those who weren't there.Greg Schwenk, festival director (paraphrased): “Hundreds of people helped make this happen, and I shall thank each and every one of them by name …

Room Service

Initial media reports about April 22's improbable double killing at a ritzy Laguna Beach resort didn't mention who did the killing. Call me jaded, but that's odd. Always pause when journalists fail to provide answers to the basics: Who? What? When? Where? How? In this case, the Who? and the How? were missing or wrong. …

Curb Your Cynicism, Pt. 2

In which the music editor pithily enthuses about new releases and reissues he thinks will enhance your life and erode your cynicism about the state of music, circa now. Black Moth Super Rainbow Dandelion Gum (Graveface; graveface.com) Release date: May 15, 2007 That band name; that album title; that CD cover. They all scream PSYCHEDELIC …

Shins-ing the Night Away: A Sounds Eclectic Evening

[photo by Marc Goldstein] Making a classic SoCal newcomer mistake, I only gave myself 45 minutes to drive from Costa Mesa to Universal City's Gibson Amphitheatre, where influential public radio station KCRW was holding its sixth annual Sounds Eclectic concert; this year proceeds go to help convert its vast music library into digital form. After …

Journey From the Fallout Boy

Vincent Nguyen just emailed a comment to us from the director of Journey From the Fall, regarding Scott Foundas' review of the film. Director Ham Tran basically touches on the same points everyone else offended by the review did. Tran's comments are here. Our whole online package on the uproar is here.

European Imports of Import

The mighty Forced Exposure distribution company is America's lifeline to the fertile global electronic-music underground—as well as many other arcane sonic delicacies. Whenever a package from FE arrives, I can be assured a bounty of excellent sounds from the planet's most forward-thinking sound sorcerers. Below is a survey of releases from the most recent batch …