SOPHISTICATED ART REBELS

The California Locos are the Original SoCal 

Surf-Skate-Urban-Art Bad Boys

By Kim Rahilly

Want to give the coolest possible counterculture art gift?  Or buy a piece  that will make your own crib as bangin’ as one of Mick Jagger’s or Nicolas Cage’s?  Well, nothing could say, “Sophisticated art rebel” more vividly than an original artwork by one of the five legendary SoCal surf-skate-urban-art bad boys now touring as the California Locos.

They are Chaz Bojorquez (the Godfather of Graffiti Art), John Van Hamersveld (creator of the game-changing poster, “The Endless Summer”), Dave Tourjé (featured in the award-winning documentary, “Dave Tourjé: L.A. Aboriginal”), Gary Wong (cross-cultural post-modernist) and Norton Wisdom (Jane’s Addiction performance artist).  Their lead has been followed by everyone from Banksy, to Shepard Fairey of Obama’s “Hope” poster, to an entire generation of artists.

Collected by Fairey, Jagger and Cage, as well as Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Browne, David Lee Roth, and the late major California-art collector Gerald Buck, the California Locos’ work is not available in galleries, but new pieces by all five are available to international art buyers for the first time at Art Miami Context.

“What (the California Locos) did changed everything – but what they are doing now is the best work of their lives,” wrote respected art critic Shana Nys Dambrot on the Huffington Post.

Bojorquez’s “Señor Suerte” was the first known stencil tag, 30 years before there was a Banksy.  He’s one of the first Chicano artists to make the transition from street to gallery.  He designed a baguette handbag for Fendi, put his mark on skateboards and fashion for XLARGE, Vans and Converse, and his work is in The Smithsonian, LACMA and MOCA. 

Van Hamersveld changed the art world with “The Endless Summer,” and went on to design album covers for The Beatles, Beach Boys, Blondie, and the Rolling Stones. His work is at LACMA and the Museum of Modern Art, and his four-block-lon LED-light art canopy, “Signs of Life” is playing at Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience. 

In a March feature story on Van Hamersveld’s timeless dayglo movie poster, Vanity Fair writes, “The Endless Summer poster. Fifty years old, and it hasn’t aged a minute.  So potent is the poster as an icon that it has become a pop-culture reference within pop culture.”  Said Fairey, “It may be the most pervasive surf image ever created.”

Tourjé came out of the skate/hot rod cultures to become a found-object sculptor, reverse painter and musician with the Dissidents, and whose art has been exhibited at four major SoCal museums.  He co-founded the Chouinard Foundation to preserve the works of one of the greatest art schools (now CalArts).  A short film about him has won seven international film festival awards.

 

Wong, an artist integral to the formation of West Coast postmodernism who continues to impact it through his expressionistic mixed-media works often utilizing cross-cultural symbols, and his blues-music-based performance art.

Wisdom has practiced his live-painting improv act on stage with Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lili Haydn, Nels Cline, Llyn Foulkes, and orchestras in India, Bali and Tibet.  He is dedicated to exploring the proscenium-rectangle through color and collage.

To acquire an iconic artwork, contact Mary McCrink at 714-749-6369 or mmccrink@socal.rr.com. 

For more information, visit www.CaliforniaLocos.com.

View the passage of time through rose-colored glasses with Italian vino in hand

Celebrating Life on a Working Vineyard in Italy's Langhe Wine Country

A perfect birthday at the family-run Cascina Barac agriturismo

by Kim Rahilly

 

Cascina Barac is 5 km from the historic
town of Alba in the heart of the
Langhe wine region

After traveling by plane, train and automobile from Puglia, Italy’s southernmost point in the heel of the boot, I arrive after dark, tired and hungry, in Northern Italy’s Langhe wine country in Piemonte, one of the world’s best food and wine-producing regions.   My plan is to wake up on my birthday, the next day, on a working vineyard.

My host, Albino Bonelli, proprietor of the lovely, family-run agriturismo Cascina Barac on more than 150 acres of vineyards straddling the border between Alba and Treiso, had kindly offered to deliver me, an American travel/wine journalist, from the train station.  A soft, lightly-padded man, Albino has a giddy, playful way about him as if he teases children all day long.  He speaks a little English, and when I ask him if there might be anything to eat when we get there, he makes a funny, sad face before proceeding to drive 20 minutes to an elegant little restaurant called Osteria LaLiberia in the heart of the old quarter in the historic town of Alba.  

“Isn’t it too late to eat here?” I ask. 

“Per noi, no!” No, not for us! he says.


Grapes before harvest

He knows the owners.  A man who clearly enjoys food, he could not let me eat alone.  He proudly points out his wife’s family’s Piazzo wines on the wine list, and they bring out Piazzo’s Dolcetto d’Alba Scaletta, which perfectly compliments our meal.  It has a deep ruby-red color and a very fragrant nose with hints of rich cherry, plum and raspberry flavors and a bit of spice.  Albino samples each local delicacy while describing them in detail:  the pasta with their famous white truffles; the gorgeous il grano cheese; the rich, satisfying panna cotta.  Piemontese cuisine is known for its ancient recipes and exquisite flavors and I am relishing all of it.

Paths through the vineyards lead to the winery

After dinner, we drive another 20 minutes into the dark, vineyard-laden hills before arriving at a large two–story country house.  He carries my suitcase up the staircase and deposits me, weary and sated, to my room.  Buona notte! 



After a blissful nine hours’ sleep, I awake to find myself in a plush queen-sized bed.  Lying there dreamily, I notice that each pane in the French doors that open onto my balcony frames a picture-perfect image:  in one pane, there is a twisting country road leading to a white house with a terra cotta roof; a geranium pot on a ledge, an old truck laden with grapes, and neat rows of leafy vines in the others.

The rooms on the second floor feature
balconies lined with geranium boxes

Throwing the balcony doors open, I am greeted by September air with a mountain-fresh chill, and elated to discover a panoramic view of the gorgeous green hills and valleys beyond.  And then I remember:  it’s my birthday! 

Albino and his wife Wilma took their time – more than eight years – in fashioning Cascina Barac to be as sturdy and charming as it is.  They began the ristrutturazione (rebuilding) of the 10-room inn in 1994 – the same year they were married – but did not open for business until May 2002.

Cascina means country house and so, naturalmente, they needed to use indigenous (Albino calls them, “typical”) materials including river stones from the nearby Seno d’Elvio River; old (recycled) brick, and regional wood to create a feeling of warmth.  Newsflash: Their efforts have definitely paid off in the aesthetic and warmth departments.

The breakfast room at Cascina Barac

At breakfast, soft classical music plays as Albino and his brother restock the buffet table.  There are a few other diners (Europeans) in the bricked-in sitting room.  From our hilltop vantage point, the expansive and verdant view fills its enormous windows.  The owners’ sweet and quietly chattering children are whisked away.

For breakfast, the buffet offers fresh prosciutto, three types of cheese, cereal, hard-boiled eggs, toast, pastries with Nutella (made right here in Alba) or cream inside, two types of juice (orange or passion fruit), country bread with delectable spiced plum jam, and amazing Italian espresso with a pitcher of hot milk (since it’s my birthday, can’t I have a little of each?)

Suffice it to say that it is a delicious (and perfect!) way to start my new year.

The overcast skies of the morning give way to a chilly but brief afternoon rain that drenches the vines.   Later, the sun returns and bees buzz about lazily as I read in the garden, aware of the feeling of luxuriant country living quite different from the spare seaside life I had experienced down south.

A lovely country path on the grounds of
the Piazzo Winery

I decide to hold off on attending Slow Food’s “Cheese” festival – a celebration  of global wines, cheeses, olives and other delicacies held every two years in the charming neighboring town of Bra – until tomorrow so that I can explore the winery and generally continue to savor the joys of life on an Italian vineyard.

Piazzo wines are made right here, and it’s just a few days before the main harvest.  A soft breeze gently moves through vines dripping with plump red grapes.  A truck brims with Moscato bianco (white Muscat) grapes waiting to be made into Moscato d’Asti, a semi-sweet frizzante (lightly sparkling) dessert wine that is served chilled.   I feel a bit honored to be playing witness to the origins of the nectar that others around the world will savor.

Celebrating my birthday with
my dear friend Jens

That evening, my dear and very loyal friend Jens drives all the way up from Nice, France to take me out to dinner in Alba (even getting a speeding ticket on the way – argh!).   A large group of young local girls sing “Tanti Auguri” (happy birthday) to me, making the evening completely enchanting, and allowing us to witness the beautiful, warm spirit of the people of Alba and the Langhe region.



Surrounded by sweet local girls who sing "Tanti Auguri" to me 

But, I discover, I am not the only foreigner to find this place special.  I take a gander at the guest sign-in book and find ecstatic exclamations -- even drawings -- by creative guests with Japanese names, alongside those of many other nationalities.  Kind of like Cristoforo Colombo and his "discovery" of America, I thought I had been the first to discover Cascina Barac.  Apparently not.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Agriturismo Cascina Baràc
Frazione San Rocco Seno D’Elvio 40
12051 Alba (CN)
Tel: +39 0173.366418
Fax: +39 0173.220545
E-mail: barac@barac.it
http://www.barac.it/index-uk.php

2012 Prices with breakfast range from 98-200 Euros including buffet breakfast, welcome drink and parking. Open year-round.  All accommodations have satellite TV, hi-fi system, free wi-fi, minibar, hair dryer, direct dial phone, air conditioning and radiant panel heating.

Piazzo Winery

www.piazzo.it

Michelle Williams Channels Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn"?

At a pre-Academy Awards industry screening at Harmony Gold in Hollywood, Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams was asked by an audience member during the Q & A that followed if she was "channeling" Marilyn Monroe.  Her response?  "I admit to some freaky feelings about what may have been moving around me.  I had the same dressing room (Marilyn) did when she was filming, 'The Prince and the Showgirl,'" the circumstance around which the new film, "My Week with Marilyn" revolves.

Williams, sporting a cropped platinum pixie cut very unlike her soft, curly Marilyn-esque hairstyle on screen, said that she related to her, "...all the time, I hope."  She admitted, "Similar to Marilyn, I just wanted to be taken seriously as an actress...and I have been in a way that she never was."

Another audience member stood up and gushed, "What a magnificent performance. You brought a new understanding of her."  In fact, Williams' performance is so enveloping, so tangible, that it feels as if the late sex symbol is somehow present, and it leaves you feeling as if you better understand Monroe's crushing insecurity, desire for acceptance as a "real" actress, and the playful, flirtatious nature that refuses to be contained despite the efforts of her suffocating handlers, or her being trapped in an ill-suited marriage to playright Arthur Miller.

Desert Jeep Touring in So Cal's Coachella Valley

Westways Magazine
Desert Touring
MORGAN LEVINE GIVES THE INSIDE SCOOP ON THE LAND OF THE CAHUILLA INDIANS

Go get me some creosote bush, her great grandma used to say. “I’ve got a cold coming on.” And thus began Morgan “Wind in Her Hair” Levine’s career as a nature expert and eco-tour guide in the mountains and deserts of Southern California's Coachella Valley, about two hours east of Los Angeles.
She grew up there in one of the windiest places on earth: the San Gorgonio Pass (now home to a major wind farm), which is why she was christened, "Wind in Her Hair" by a Native American friend.  But the name is not frivolous; Levine actually has Cahuilla Indian roots, and was mentored in nature studies by her great grandmother, the plant authority for her clan.  Without ever having visited a doctor, the woman lived to see her 104th birthday by treating herself with what she termed, “power plants.”
Levine, 44, a petite, rough-and-tumble fast talker with a long, dark braid, radiates the human-energy equivalent of a desert windstorm. When her jeep starts up, so does she, and she hardly takes a breath for at least the first hour of her tour.  She has conducted tours of this rugged landscape for up to eight hours a day for years, yet her enthusiasm for the area’s flora, fauna, history, geology and Indian lore never wanes.
“Seeing the snow on the mountains or the agave in blossom, I see things every day that I’ve never seen before,” Levine marveled. “If I see a flower and I know its name, it’s more interesting.  If I know its name in Latin and how it's used by the tribe, it’s even more interesting and I’ll never drive by it the same way again.  It adds more depth perception to everything in life.”
Desert Adventures offers a variety of eco-friendly tours including Santa Rosa Mountain, Indian Canyon and Mystery Canyon Adventures. For more information, call 1-888-440-5337 (JEEP) or go to http://www.red-jeep.com/.

OP-ED PIECE: Reasoning Ourselves Out of Our Planet

“…pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods; for nothing now can ever come to any good.” – W.H. Auden

By Kim Rahilly

Why are we, as a species, destroying our paradise, the world we call home? This place came so easily to us that it must it must be our birthright; it must be forever, right? We know now that that is not necessarily so.

So, why do we continue -- knowing this -- to obliterate our forests, our animal species, our insects that make our fruits and flowers bountiful, our rivers, our skies and our oceans? Is it because we have the mistaken belief that they are “ours” alone to destroy? They are not.

They belong to the beasts and the bees as much as to us; to the living things that slither, that fly, that roar and tweet; that bloom, morph, swim and hatch; that flutter, soar, burrow, and run like the wind; that live in hives, colonies, dens and pouches; the things with stripes and humps, and that are colored in pastels.

They actually share the earth with us (not the other way around) since many species have been here a lot longer than we have (did you know that our present-day birds are related to long-extinct dinosaurs?). But we feel that we have the right to push them out the way because “we can reason.” Oh, that’s reasonable: we should destroy their habitats – and ours – because we can imagine it. It is ours to destroy because we can make a rationale as to why we can do it, or more accurately, why we don’t have to stop. It’s ironic because we actually can’t imagine it – if we could, we would stop right now.

Recently, E.O. Wilson, an environmental advocate and author of the non-fiction book, “Creation,” told Bill Moyers on PBS that we are "doomed to live in an artificial world," like a “soylent green” or space-station world. If he’s right, how long would we last in such a plastic environment? Not for very long, I would imagine, and not very contentedly. The idea of it defines the word, "unnatural."

“This is the only planet we're ever going to have," Wilson said, "it has taken tens, hundreds of millions of years to create this beautiful natural environment we have, that has taken care of us so well; that is in fact, our greatest natural heritage -- and we're throwing it away in a matter of a few decades.”

Could our antipathy be caused by the loss we have all endured? Are we destroying the earth out of grief? Have we given up caring due to a deep, collective despair? So many loved ones have departed this place. Think of all the wars that have taken our sons; all the suffering caused by holocausts, hurricanes, fires and tsunamis; diseases and cancers, accidents and acts of terrorism. Is our collective grief so great that we can no longer embrace life? Can we no longer envision a place for us in this world any more?

W.H. Auden could have been writing about our planet when he wrote his poem, “Funeral Blues,” which ends like this:

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

# # #

Here’s the complete poem:

FUNERAL BLUES

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

- W.H. Auden

First published as "Song IX" from 'Twelve Songs" (1936);

Reprinted under the present title in "Tell me the Truth about Love" (1976).