The Barstow Boyz are Back in Town

Barstow Boyz Perform Friday at La Cave, Don't Cover Al Stewart

OC Weekly 

By Arrissia Owen Turner, Thu., Nov. 18 2010 @ 8:23AM

Keith May/OC Weekly
Barstow Boyz at the Blue Beet in April 2009

 
The Barstow Boyz bring back Sunset sexy like Timberlake in a Nightrain tornado of sleaze. After brief run-ins with the Mexican federales, Danny Bonaduce and flag-lovin' fuddy duddies, the Costa Mesa contingent of unrelenting arena-rock-lovin' badasses is ready to take the stage and serve up the sizzle. We checked in with Barstow Boyz (who may or may not consist of members from your favorite local bands) frontman Rim Morrison for a long overdue chat.

Keith May/OC Weekly

OC Weekly: Hey. What's up Rim Morrison?

Rim Morrison: Not much.

What were you doing when I called? What does rocker Rim Morrison do on a Tuesday night?

He sings "Tuesday Afternoon." [A very crappy Moody Blues song.] And he has to make important decisions, stuff that most guys have to deal with--like, sausage or meatballs? Pretty much anything can happen on a Tuesday night--except when we're in Palmdale, trying to figure out how we're going to play at the Youth Center and have an NA meeting at the same time.

Rough. So what is the working relationship like within the band?

We don't work much so there's not really that much of a relationship. This is our first show in a year.

Why a year?

It's hard to explain. Have you ever seen Excalibur? Well it has nothing to do with that. But the magician Merlin did his magic so King Arthur could be conceived and go out for him to raise hell. It's nothing really like that other than that after we do a show we have to rest for a long time. We've been going on like this for about 6 or 7 years.

There were also some other unexpected things. Niles had a child and got arrested trying to join one of the Mexican drug cartels. It was one of those trying-to-show-brotherhood things. They would only let him go if he gave up some information, and then they started looking into how much a healthy mulleted white baby would go for on the black market. So that's pretty much what we're all about: spell casting and selling babies.

Favorite Barstow Boyz show performed ever?

There's a few. There was the time we were on stage at 7 in the morning with Danny Bonaduce in front of thousands of people, guzzling a gallon-size bottle of Jack Daniels and having Bonaduce giving me the evil eye while I'm singing the national anthem, looking at me like he was saying: 'You are a disgrace.' And I'm just thinking, 'You've seen far worse than this just looking in the mirror, buddy.'

But you know, ruining the "Star Spangled Banner"--let me tell you, you have not done anything until you've ruined "Star Spangled Banner" in front of a shitload of people. You don't know how that songs affects people until you fuck it up. You would think more people would have a sense of humor, like maybe guys who wear short shorts would understand. But they don't. They're pissed.

And then there was this time that our Roadie Spider traded his jean shorts for some girl's expensive designer jeans right on stage. She kept his shit and he kept her expensive, designer jeans. Then she came by the next day and Spider had already sold them on Craig's List. He made more off that then we got paid that night.

Wow. That's something to aspire to.

Yeah. That's thinking on your feet.

Keith May/OC Weekly

How is your Orange County audience different than the rest?

Orange County audiences are different than audiences in L.A. because people in Orange County actually like music. So, yeah, that is kind of different. But audiences are all pretty much the same. A lot of people like to think that their audience is smart, that they catch on to things. But I like to think our audience is pretty stupid. I know that my intellect has not progressed past age 12. We've toned down the hardcore pornography though. People got too confused.

One of my favorite things about a Barstow Boyz show is how great everyone looks, the amazing sense of style throughout the room and on stage. Who is your style icon?

The Maytag repairman. I like to think of myself as a cross between him and Archie Bunker. I mean, I am thinking that in my mind anyway. I don't know if that is what it's actually like for other people looking at me. But I'm all like--I'm bored, I have nothing to do and my son-in-law is a meathead. And I don't even have a son-in-law.

What is the most underrated band from the late '70s, early '80s that the Barstow Boyz covers?

People don't appreciate Al Stewart. But we don't cover Al Stewart.

Keith May/OC Weekly

Why don't you cover Al Stewart?

Because people don't appreciate him. We don't want to piss people off. There's already enough stuff making people angry. We were talking about this the other night. If one of us mentions a band, we're like, 'Oh yeah, do you remember that song,?' 'Oh yeah, I hate that song.' 'Oh we definitely have to do that song.'

In the past we've done some stuff by Aerosmith, Jethro Tull. maybe some Who-- stuff that people genuinely like. But it's the stuff that we might say, 'I really like it but for all the wrong reasons' that we like to throw in.

It's that same feeling you get knowing that even though you are vegetarian you can get away with eating the French fries at McDonalds that are fried in beef fat. It's kind of naughty, but you're not betraying your true core.

It's like you just looked into my soul.

Jim Ladd has that effect on me, too. The DJ on KLOS--'Lord have mercy.' He has that sort of fire in the belly effect because I feel like I did something wrong by turning the dial to him. Like when he goes off on his pseudo Ray Manzarek shtick.

The origin of the Barstow Boyz--no one really knows this but we were going to be--this still may happen--a homoerotic cover band of the Doors, called the Back Doors. Hence the name: Rim Morrison. It could still happen though. Keep your fingers and others things crossed.

Keith May/OC Weekly

Check the impressive man cleavage on Rim.

So what's the future hold for the Barstow Boyz?

Hopefully we won't have to sleep nine days after this performance, and hopefully we can get back up and do it again before the holidays are over. As long as we can continue to find spandex to fit us, and people will still come by the stage and dance on it and help us test its capacity, we'll keep rocking.

The Barstow Boyz tear it up at La Cave, 1695 Irvine Ave., Costa Mesa, (949) 646-7944. Fri., Nov. 19, 9 p.m. 21+.

To view the story online, click here:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2010/11/barstow_boyz.php

Beauty is Skin Deep, Uncomfortably Deep

Feel pretty, oh so pretty

Big Bear Grizzly

The Mother Load

By ARRISSIA OWEN TURNER
Reporter

Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 7:32 AM PST

Chloe loves being a girl, and she absolutely adores herself. My 8-year-old daughter has no qualms about telling anyone just that.

When Chloe took her school pictures this year, there was much discussion—hair, outfit, which smile, what pose. I was sure any moment we were going to head off to a modeling shoot on the French Riviera.

After the curls were in place, Chloe gave out a big sigh, tilted her head to the right, blew her mirror image a kiss and said: “I’m beautiful.” She is gorgeous, inside and out.

I cannot remember the last time I heard a grown woman say such a thing with so much abandon. Something happens to us from childhood to adulthood that we start to look in the mirror in horror—spotting every imperfection, every flaw on our skin, every hair out of place, every crook in our noses, every dimple in our thighs.

In high school, I was told over and over by friends that before they knew me they thought I was stuck up. I was not conceited—far from it. I thought I was ugly. I could barely look people in the eyes because I was so shy and awkward.

There were days I would lie in my mother’s bed crying because I thought I was too appalling to leave the house. I look back at pictures and can see that there was no reason.

At 38, I still struggle with accepting the beauty cards I was dealt. Yet I am able to look at other women and only see the positive in them and appreciate all the unique aspects of their genetic make up that make them who they are. Chloe is able to look in the mirror and see nothing but gorgeous.

The first time I saw the Dove commercial with women of every size and shape, color and creed, standing in their skivvies saying they were beautiful, I instantly felt tears well up. Those women loved their bodies and felt beautiful. I wanted in.

Most females’ self-esteem is chipped away at, little by little, so much so that by the time we are adults there is nearly nothing left. If there are women readers who have no idea what I am going on about, I envy you.

The assault on self starts early for most of us.

According to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund’s “Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem,” seven in 10 girls believe they are not good enough when it comes to their appearance, academics and relationships.

The results are based on nearly 5,000 girls between ages 8 and 17. Of the 70 percent who struggle with low self-esteem, 75 percent have reported engaging in self-destructive behavior such as eating disorders, cutting, bullying, smoking and drinking.

The report says 57 percent of girls have mothers who criticize their own looks. One of my biggest achievements as a mother is that I stopped saying negative things about myself once Chloe was born. She was part of me, and that changed the way I viewed myself. She taught me to love myself. But I still struggle.

There are many lessons I can learn from my daughter’s confidence, and Dove is taking charge to help moms like me stop the cycle. The skin and body product company offers a self-esteem toolkit online with everything from advice on how to start discussions with girls about how they perceive themselves to activities like inspiration boards and the beautiful book club.

Most of us can look back at old photos of ourselves, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, maybe more, and marvel at how great we looked back then. And then the next thought is usually, ‘But I thought I was fat and ugly.’ We always wish we could grab that younger self in the picture and shake some sense into her.

But guess what? Here’s your chance. Look in the mirror now and listen. Don’t wait to appreciate your unique features and attributes. Love yourself right now.

For more information about the Dove Self-Esteem Project, visit www.dovemovement.com.

To read the story online, click here:
http://bigbeargrizzly.net/articles/2010/11/12/community/doc4cda031241749293303037.txt

It Got Chilly in the Desert

Pioneertown Days

Last Saturday I headed to Pappy & Harriett's in Yucca Valley, the Pioneertown side of things, to see Cold War Kids. 

So basically, I saw Cold War Kids in a small cowboy bar that has huge barbecue pits and picnic tables outside and a little cowboy village that doubles as a hotel. When we were checking in at the door, two men rode up and asked where the horse parking was. One was trailed by a mule.

I have always been intrigued by the place. Having maintained calendar listings for OC Weekly, IE Weekly and LA City Beat, I know a lot about who has played where during the last 12 years. 

Pappy & Harriett's is awesome. I was standing smack on the other side of lead singer Nathan Willett's keyboards. The set list was two inches from my belt buckle. There couldn't have been more than a couple hundred people crammed into the entire place.

Of course I took that set list the moment the show was over. Snag. 

I cannot say enough good things about Pappy & Harriett's. I have already said my piece about Cold War Kids. They were amazing, as always. But this is really about the digs. Next show I got to—and I have a few interesting ones to choose from—I am having dinner too. They serve drinks in mason jars, so I am sure they have portions bigger than a hubcap. 

Upcoming shows include Dick Dale, I See Hawks in L.A., The Country (with members of Gram Rabbit), Masters of Reality, Merle Jagger and, most interestingly, The Evangenitals—a punk rock, hillbilly love-in "of the freak-folk variety." I'm in. Plenty of greats have passed through Pappy & Harriett's in previous years, most recently Robert Plant, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, The Donnas, Peaches, Billy Corgan, Lucinda Williams and plenty more.

The hotel looks like a good time, interesting if nothing else. Pack your corsets and spurs. But instead we camped in Joshua Tree for the night, which is better than getting a room at the Standard in LA after a show anytime. And there is a cool hippy/hiking store not far from the campground—next to the Home of the Dome where signs hang that say witty things like "Dome Sweet Dome." 

I scored a Mega Ball, an ice cream maker in a ball that is perfect for shaking up around the campfire, incense and a tic-tac-toe game made out of sustainable, environmental-friendly materials. And we never hit traffic once. 

Robert Plant with the house band at Pappy & Harriett's

Check them out:

http://www.pappyandharriets.com/index2.html

More Oakenfold ...

Save the Last Trance

Thu, Nov 4, 2010

 






Superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold puts his beats and his legendary remix talents through another spin cycle

By Arrissia Owen Turner

In 1987, Paul Oakenfold’s life changed after a weeklong party on the Mediterranean island Ibiza, named for Bes, the god of music and dance that was worshipped around 650 B.C. These days, the island attracts many disciples, turning it into a big party island run on electronic music and sheer ecstasy.

Oakenfold returned home a changed man intent on replicating the sound back in London. He started DJing locally and his reputation led to producer credits for Manchester bands like Happy Mondays and Stone Roses. Then in ’93, Bono rang. Oakenfold’s remix of U2’s “Even Better than the Real Thing” hit higher on the charts than the original, cementing him as a bona fide star.

In 1995, he became the first DJ to perform on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival, in front of about 90,000 people. By 1998 and ’99, the celebrity DJ kept growing in household name status from his residency at Cream in Liverpool.

These days Oakenfold’s widely considered an elder statesman of electronic music, lending his talents to remixes of Mark Ronson, Radiohead and more. He currently holds down a weekly residency at the Palms Hotel at Rain Nightclub in Las Vegas. His highly anticipated Pop Killer release is expected to hit dance floors in early 2011.  

CULTURE recently had a chance to chat with Oakenfold a few days prior to his scheduled DJ set at Cypress Hill’s SmokeOut festival in San Bernardino. The globally renowned DJ talked about his rise to fame, pretending to be a journalist to get into New York clubs and why England and Europe have really got a handle on smoking marijuana legally.

For the Q&A click here:

http://freeculturemag.com/2010/11/featuredstories/paul-oakenfold/

Mural Community

If Walls Could Talk

Gregory Navarro Pickens is a man of many murals

By Arrissia Owen Turner
Photo by Kayte Deioma

You’ve likely seen one of Gregory Navarro Pickens’ murals. There’s Gant Elementary School off of Atherton Street, a 10-foot-by-20-foot mural of a colorful jungle full of exotic animals painted with the help of students in 1997.

Or maybe you spotted the children frolicking in the 57-foot mural on 15^th Street at the Long Beach Day Nursery. It’s been there since 1992, the same year Pickens also transformed the American Red Cross’ exterior on 29^th Street with the help of more students.

The mural tells the history of the Red Cross, woven with the sort of calamities that put the organization into action. “It’s the triumph of the human spirit,” Pickens tells CityBeat. Community art projects help instill a sense of pride in areas where graffiti is normally the most common decorative delight.

Pickens announced his artistic aspirations to his parents by the time he was 2. His parents encouraged him, signing him up for classes and nurturing his artistic expression.

During high school, Pickens painted houses until heading to New Jersey, Brazil and England to study painting and illustration, finally landing at Pennsylvania’s Kutztown University to earn his Bachelor’s degree in 1984, followed by the University of Texas where he scored a Master of Fine Arts degree by 1988.

Between all that, he took on a community project in San Antonio during spring break. They assembled a team and took on a wall on the side of a building in a rough neighborhood. The person who lived on the other side of the wall happened to be a drug dealer, making for plenty of spectator traffic.

“For a guy who had mostly been working in a studio and late at night, it was a different experience with art,” Pickens says. “I very much enjoyed it. I got the bug.” Once back in the real world, Pickens found himself painting houses again to cover rent. He began teaching, eventually earning his credential.

Pickens found a way to combine his passions when he landed with muralist Judith Baca after relocating to Los Angeles in 1989.

“I would say it was serendipitous,” says Pickens, who recently completed a month-long series of live mural painting in conjunction with the Arts Council.

During the last two decades, Pickens has worked on more than 150 community murals and became a board member at Art Exchange, an organization funded by the city’s Redevelopment Agency. The program offers a community arts center where people may watch artists create, purchase art and attend classes. It’s all for the people.

“When I get to a mural project, it’s anyone’s guess who will show up and what their age is,” Pickens says. His teaching background comes in handy. “I am learning every day, every project. It’s all new—that is part of what is so dynamic and exciting.”

Pickens has worked closely with the Arts Council for nearly two decades, starting with the Long Beach Day Center to the most recent live mural paintings. “That is the kind of thing I am finding very exciting now,” Pickens says about living paintings. “A mural exists in a neighborhood, but this throws it into a different context.”

The most recent live painting gig for the Arts Council found Pickens painting in three very different venues: the EXPO building on Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls, during an art walk in the East Village and culminated during the Long Beach Marathon with Pickens painting near the finish line.

Watching the worn-out runners drag their aching bodies to the finish line after five to six hours of pushing their bodies to the limit, Pickens says, was like watching a massive triumph of the human spirit. It’s a lot like a month-long mural in the making. www.facebook.com/studiopickens.

Here is a link to the original story:
http://citybeatlb.com/2010/10/reviews/entertainmentreviews/artsentertainment/if-walls-could-talk/

The Cold War Kids Warming Up

The Kids are Alright

There are moments that feel a little surreal. Like when Nathan Willett from the Cold War Kids is chatting with me on the phone and starts talking about a conversation he had a few weeks ago with Win Butler of Arcade Fire. Really? Cue pinching self. This music fan eats that stuff up. 

CWK by Matt Wignall

We were chatting about the off-the-grid shows CWK will be playing during the next month, playing the new album Mine is Yours live for the first time. Some of the venues are quite quaint and have become favorites of indy acts, like Pappy & Harriett's in Yucca Valley and places in Big Sur. Nathan went to the Arcade Fire show in Big Sur, and what do you know? CWK is playing Big Sur, not exactly a hipster hot spot but a hell of a great road trip for anyone with the means to make it. 

CWK also offered its first single, "Louder than Ever," which I highly recommend, for free on www.recordlabeltoday.com this past Monday.  “There are so few rules in this day and age in the music world that it’s kind of like, might as well give it a shot,” Willett says about giving away music for free. Plus, the guys are getting antsy to get the songs out there and don't really want to sit on them for the next couple months before the official release. 

As for the new album: I love it. It's not as rough as previous CDs and EPs, but it's time for the kids to grow up. The band’s focus on capturing the emotion in the delivery waned. “That style sort of ran its course with us,” Willett says. “We wanted to get it right no matter how much time it took.” 

Here's the article that came out in IE Weekly today: 

The Big Chill 

 IE Weekly

Cold War Kids are ready to galvanize the rock snobs

By: Arrissia Owen Turner

The first chance fans can hear Cold War Kids’ much anticipated upcoming release Mine is Yours is tomorrow at the Glass House. The album hits stores Jan. 24. Score one for the IE.

 Known for their raw sound and energetic live shows, the self-proclaimed soul punksters never fail to get a witness as they spread their gospel. But now they’re ready to put on the production ritz. The songs on their third full-length will likely make the Long Beach/Silver Lake-based band arena-filling rock stars thanks to the pop polish of new producer Jacquire King.

After their debut full-length release Robbers & Cowards turned the band into a critically-praised indie rock outfit, they followed with the less autobiographical, more-literary leaning Loyalty to Loyalty.

 The album didn’t galvanize rock snobs they way the first did—although the lyric “I tried to call you collect/You said you would not accept/Your friends are laughing because nobody uses pay phones” and Matt Maust’s bumping bass line made the album’s “Something is Not Right With Me” a searing rocker.

The Kids looked to King (Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits) based on his success rate with bands they know and like. They spent more time in the studio than ever before, giving up their less-is-more mentality for the next step toward superstardom.

For the next few months before the marketing blitz begins the band plays some smaller venues to kick into gear.

“It’s kind of a big field trip,” says front man Nathan Willett. “It’s a fun adventure.”

For the full story, click below:

http://www.ieweekly.com/cms/story/detail/the_big_chill/3596/