TEDtv, headdresses and prints and such

We had an earthquake the other morning at around 6am. I was outside before the shaking even stopped. I've always wondered about the advice to get under a door frame. Wouldn't you just want to get outside where nothing is above you? School me if my logic serves me wrong.

These large format illustrations give the ideas and inspirations behind real wearable art piece, which were all on display at Bergamot in December. Some of them are based on characters from books, some are created based on a specific plant or location. 

See it in the real! Particularly excited to see my work on stage at TED Global in Edinburgh. The video of Elizaveta performing in my head piece and a dress I designed was released this week on their website. Go check it out! Or just click on the video below.

Elizaveta Performs Meant at TED Global in Edinburgh 

Photos from the show at Bergamot

Saturday at Berg was the place to be. It was one happening thing after another.

We started out small with a couple of little ones making Christmas ornaments.

The first little girl was so delighted with the result, I knew it was going to be a big fun. Soon there were kids pouring in and parents hunting for used materials. I picked through the warehouse of goods at reDiscover this morning to find the perfect mix of "trash" to resurrect into art. I was confident that there would be some magic happening.

The tiles made it on to the wall. After a rough start, that's saying a lot. Each tile is slightly irregular because they are hand poured, and the hooks, though lined up and embedded into the plaster, are slightly off. So the whole thing had to be measured piece by piece, which I did on Wednesday. It was a crowning achievement to see them all up.

Explaining the whole concept to everyone was a good challenge.

Each tile represents a significant event in El Salvadoran history, ranging from the birth of the nation to the devastating repression, which left over 75,000 Salvadorans dead, many indiscriminately killed by para-military operations looking to keep control over the small nation during the major power struggle of the Cold War.

El Salvador was one of the first places that I visited out of the US; I became fascinated by its history and later engulfed in the challenge of depicting a complicated, politically-charged story through images.

To help in the deciphering, I have a book that goes along with the exhibit that gives the year and details behind each image.

AND on the other side of the room - wood nymphs and fairies. haha. Seriously, when we were planning the show, I was doubtful that the walls would make sense with such.. let's say "diverse" work.

The string that was supposed to tie it all together was my sketchbooks.

The theme of the night was reusing materials..
Supporting the mission of reDiscover..
Doing an activity with kids that emphasized reused materials..
Exhibiting my headdresses which use quite a lot of second-hand materials..
And screening a sneak peak at the documentary Landfill Harmonic about a group that uses trash to make instruments.

The sketchbooks tie it all in by talking about the landfills of Cambodia and travels in El Salvador along with the tiles showing the history of El Salvador. See it kind of works... but we couldn't get any glass cases, so the sketchbooks had to wait. And therefore the show has a missing link and is a lovely mix of disparity.

Actually I was told that one woman was really pleased with the opposing walls, saying 'this is real, this is how it really is, we are not just one thing." I was happy to hear that because, well, it's true. We are not.

Human rights and geography aside, the headpieces are purely artistic and fantastical. I like to take an idea like a character from a novel and try to make something that represents that story. If you've been here a while, you know they have been worn extensively by Elizaveta.

I also displayed some sketches and notes about the creation of the pieces, and images from some of the photo shoots where they have been used.

We screened the first peak of the documentary Landfill Harmonic and actually had the filmmakers in the room answering questions and showing us some of the real instruments from the documentary. It was one of the most inspirational things I've seen in a while. Check out the trailer below, to get the idea. They've been raising funds with Kickstarter to bring the orchestra to the US for a tour, which will no doubt be incredible.

A couple of instagrams from the night.

 

We were all freezing in the 45F weather. Mie almost didn't make it.

I enjoyed meeting tons of new people, but also loved having all of my friends come out for the night to show their support.

Elizaveta performed some live music later on, which sounded outstanding with the acoustics of the gallery. Robert pranced by saying, "there will be chocolate!" So that basically tipped the scale. It was peppermint, my favorite.

Topping off with some late night sushi, something LA does best : )

Thanks for checking out the stuff and sticking around until the end of this long post with way to many pictures of my mug.

Pictures by Tohru Oneki and John Grimshaw

Dreamer workshop

We finished our first Dreamer Workshop!

Many Thanks to Paul Bernstein for not only being such a perfect host but rocking his job to the nth degree. I wish he had been my teacher.

Back to our workshop. Paul introduced his class to Elizaveta's music a while back. Children seem to respond well to the inspirational quality of her songs. It was nice to see so many adoring faces when we arrived. E's new single Hero uses the idea of transformation from the single off of her last album, Dreamer. Together we worked out a curriculum for the workshop around the concept of dreaming about change to making it actually happen. I brought in supplies from my good friends ReDiscover, and together we made wild and wacky gadgets to help us achieve our goals and become doers! and maybe, (if we work hard - that was the idea), we can become a hero that inspires someone else to make their dreams a reality. 

Check out these cool contraption, one was a good deed dispenser, another changed trash and pollutants into ice cream. I like the way these kids think!

Sinead O'Connor + Elizaveta UK Tour

I'm back from travels in the UK and France! Rock and Roll! We jammed to nothing but The Clash, Kinks, Beatles, Talkingheads and Bowie! Ah musical soil.

Elizaveta opened for Sinead O'Connor in some of the most amazing cathedrals in the UK. As far as venues go, I think they are better than ampitheaters. There's nothing like bass in a cathedral.

 

Note my map.

Note my Sinead.

Finally, note Elizaveta and me !

Elizaveta rocked the mic, opening for Sinead O'Connor. I never knew much about Sinead; she had her controversy with the church before I was really on to pop culture. After reading back about the pope incident, I'm inclined to say: good for you. She stood up for what she believed: that the Catholic church was (and is) condoning sexual abuse. Speak truth to power. I'm with you!

Melody Lingers On

I've been on a Roaring Twenties book binge this past week. I think this song perfectly fits the atmosphere. Elizaveta made this cover of an Irving Berlin song a few weeks ago. I really love it!

Two weeks in a van.

Here with a quick one two of pictures from the road. I apologize for my mediocre job of documenting. I dont know what got into me, usually I'm so thorough. I have some drawings and things, so I'll try to post those later. Anyway it was a fun run, Elizaveta sold out all of her shows in Boston, New York, DC, and Philly. We got to meet a lot of interesting characters, see some of the cities. I got to catch up with some of my closest friends. All in all it was a great two weeks.

A few highlights for me.

• First morning we ended up on WERS radio, that's Emerson College radio. I was amped, then disappointed, because my cousin who works there is studying abroad this semester. I would've loved to drop in on him unexpectedly. I did meet some of his radio comrades. 
• At the Boston show a woman who has been following Elizaveta's music and my artwork for a long time gave E and me the most beautiful engraved compasses. How did she know I love compasses? Serendipity. 
• The Boston opening act Sarah Rabdau and the Self-Employed Assassins did an amazing cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. 
• I got to jam at Sheik's apartment. FYI I have carried my red uke on every flight in the past year as a extra extra bag and the TSA has overlooked it every time. Sneaky little thing. Not to mention when people handle it in the overheads they are so insanely careful not to damage it. To see it, touches my heart. 
• It was cold and rainy in New York so we bundled up and grabbed a coffee at one of Brooklyn's throwback cafes. Nothing beats that. Except coming in from the cold to Sheik's super comfy apartment. She's got style and a great view.
• The headdress I made looked fanastic at Joe's Pub with the lighting and backdrops. 
• E appeared on the East Village Radio show Belly of the Beast. The studio is a glass square right on the street with only enough room for a bench and a mixing table. We squeezed in out of the rain. You can listen here. I get .02 seconds of air time too. 
• In DC Rome's family surprised me by coming to the show. I love surprises. We had a great time laughing over very choice sushi. 
• My college roommate and closest thing to a sister came to the Philly show. I wish we lived closer together. 
• In Philly, we had so much fun listening to Jake Snider warm up in the back. He was really talented and friendly. (We talked all about having a shtick.) 
• On the way back to NYC, the bass player/tour manager (Tony Maceli) had us rolling in the floor with tales of his Sicilian parents. 
• In NYC again, E played at a private club that was attempting to set a mood with tons of tea candles. They sound checked and all was good. When they returned for the show, tea candles on a strange shoe sculpture were sitting on top of the piano. Halfway through the first piano-thundering song the candles came flying off the piano. It was a near miss with disaster. The dress could've easily gone up in flames. 
• On the way back to the hotel late one night, I heard the most incredible cellist on the subway. There is something about bass strings. I'm really happy Elizaveta tours with a double bass. It's my favorite instrument. 
• An invitation to a banquet show in Moscow came out of nowhere one afternoon. For the entire afternoon off, we were scrambling to get visas. Mine didn't workout, see you next time Russia. 
• Our plane was delayed on the way back to Los Angeles. As we were sitting on the plane we got a call about a show that night! So we flew back to LA, got off the plane, unpacked, dressed up, and went to another show. This one was in a swank restaurant in Beverly Hills. Incredibly glad to be home after that. I pity the insanely wealthy. They are as handicapped as the impoverished. 

London Shows

I'm back from England and Sweden! So here's a little bit of the shows. It's been two weeks, but feels like a month or two. Right now I want to relax and... not drink any more tea. haha. I usually say relax with a mug of tea, but I can't hold any more tea. I've consumed my quota between the British and my British amiga in Sweden. I'm still buzzing with Earl Grey. Anyway, tea aside. The shows came off great. I'm always relieved when stuff doesn't go flying.

Elizaveta: costumes, hair, make-up styling by Missy W. and Ali Friend on Bass

under the lights at nokia

Thank you all for your comments! I've got some nice shots, but ahhh I can't show them because they are reserved for future promos. Anyhow hope this will suffice. How about some zebra print?

E had her own huge dressing room with snazzy print floors.

It brought out the rockstar in us; we had to throw a couple lamps. hehe

Getting the head piece on...

Her make-up artist for this show (Marian Filali) created some pretty incredible feather lashes.

and here are the designs! Those shoes are so fun to wear.

 ready for stage..

Officially the unofficial photographer: the managers said I could get on the other side of the stage and photograph from the curtain. The problem though.. a huge piano. My only shot would be black enamel.

I got in the front and dodged the camera crew. It was kind of funny moving with the rig guys, trying not to mess up their kazillion dollar shots. Every once in a while the crew turned the cameras and panned on the crowd. When that happened, I had to jump in a seat and look normal. At one point I thought they were done panning so I hopped up. Just then they turned and BAM I was caught in the shot. Elly's manager said, he was watching the stage then looked up at the big screens just in time to see my deer in headlights look.

Seth MacFarlane crooned away for the rest of the night. (Note the conductor is Joel - the wizard from the other studio shots). The band was fantastic. You don't often hear that quality of jazz and big band live.

Before MacFarlane came out on the stage, you should know the emcee got up and had the audience do a couple fake laughs for the cameras and then some wild clapping that would be later spliced into the final edited version. Got to love the fabricated laugh tracks. Especially when Seth came out on stage talking about how he and Elizaveta had a problem, because they both ended up wearing the same hat to the show that night. Funny Guy or not, there is something to be said for making a scene. Sara Bareilles performed all of the duets in the show with MacFarlane, but the reviews from KPCC the next day didn't even mention her. Instead they dedicated a lengthy passage to Elizaveta. I guess when you get your chance, you have to go for it.

*All or nothing

*(Listening to nothing but Steve Marriott this week) 

Nokia Show

We had a super fun run last night at the Nokia show. The costume came out great, Elly wowed the audience, I dodged cameras to take pictures. Plus, Baptise let me use his prime lens so I got some great shots. More to come...