In a world where Blockbuster Video is getting slaughtered by Netflix, Red Box, and my cousin Tito who sells DVD’s out the trunk of his 1996 Nissan Sentra (email me, I’ll hook it up), it takes an LA institution like Laser Blazer to thrive. Formerly co-joined with Kevin Smith’s comic shop Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (before Smith went off to make his documentary about gun owners with Down Syndrome) Laser Blazer is an old-school, brick-and-mortar movie-aficionado haven, with regulars ranging from Benicio Del Toro and Laurence Fishburne to Matt Groening and Jonah Hill (even Michael Jackson used to stop by back in the day.) Think Amoeba Records, but less overpriced and with fewer people who look like this hanging around. I love it; it’s like the barbershop from Barbershop for geeky film guys.

Another reason to love it: this Saturday at 2 PM, the brilliant internet sketch group Derrick Comedy — creators of such genius bits as a self-defense video made for sociopaths and a 24 parody that somehow manages to be more ridiculous than 24 – will be at the store for a Q&A and a DVD signing. They’ll be autographing copies of Mystery Team, their debut comedy that blew up the Sundance Film Festival and plays like a mash-up of Encyclopedia Brown and Superbad. (Watch the trailer; do not watch it at work.)

You’ll also get a chance to high-five the guy who could (if there is any justice in this world) become the next Spiderman. Team-member Donald Glover, of NBC’s hilarious Community, has just become the center of a Betty White-style internet campaign to make him the star of the Spidey reboot. (My two cents: Peter Parker is from Queens. Tobey Maguire would get his ass kicked in Queens. Donald Glover would not. Edge – Glover.)

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WHAT: Derrick Comedy DVD signing
WHEN: Saturday June 5th, 2 PM
WHERE: Laser Blazer
$$$: Free

photo by Tom Murphy VII (Brighterorange)

Ya heard? Spend the night with every quasi intellectuals’ crush du jour- Ira Glass. Spend the night listening to him talk, at least, like you always do but this time in person! KCRW presents “A Night with Ira Glass: Radio Stories and Other Stories” at UCLA’s Royce Hall in March. This would make the perfect gift for your slightly nerdy (but ultimately cool as fuck) girlfriend, boyfriend or bff. You’ll hear about behind the scenes of This American Life from Mr. Glass himself, and he’ll talk personally about the show, his influences, and the elements that make a good story. You’ll also get the opportunity to ask him questions. There’s two shows, and KCRW subscribers get first dibs on tickets (may be a good excuse to become a member since they’re fundraising as we speak through their Winter Subscription Drive). Tickets go on sale February 16th for everyone!

WHAT: A Night with Ira Glass
WHEN: March 27th, 7 and 10pm
WHERE: UCLA Royce Hall
$$$: $32-$58

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to shoot some questions at the LA based band Crash Kings. I know this isn’t the same format as the first spotlight, but I think it’s a good way to get a unique perspective of a local band. So here we go. This is a Q&A with Mike Beliveau, the bassist of the band:

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I read that you guys (or at least some of you) are originally from Boston. When did you move to LA? And why LA?
Tony origially moved to LA to land a gig backing someone as a keyboardist and Jason moved because he got offered to play with Julliete and the Licks.   I made a spontaneous decision to move to LA to start a band with my brother about a year after he moved here. Tony and I have had a history playing music together and when I heard a demo that he sent me of his new music I had a instinctual reaction to drop what I was doing and move to LA.

Musical inspirations/influences? Cliché I know, but I have to ask it.
Here’s a short answer without listing my entire iTunes library:
Classic rock (queen, Zeppelin, beatles)
90’s Grunge rock (soundgarden, nirvana, pearl jam)
Jazz (herbie, miles, buddy rich, Mingus)
Each other and our friends and past bandmates

Being an up-and-coming local act, you must have played all over the city. What are one or two of your favorite venues to play at in Los Angeles? And what about somewhere you feel is a great place to go see a show?
The Roxy Theater is one of our favorite venues mostly because we love the people and the stage is great for our setup.  We’ll take any opportunity to get Jason a little further from the crowd to save their ears from bleeding – the guy hits the drum.  What I’ve learned is that it’s not the venue but the people that matter. Some of the best shows we’ve had have just been setting up in someone’s backyard or living room – Crash Kings crashing parties! There’s less expectations so people just end up having fun.

Something I found interesting about you guys. You don’t have a guitarist. You don’t see that everyday. Why choose to leave out such a widely used instrument?
We didn’t leave it out – we just never chose to add one after we put the trio together.  The piano can sound bigger than two guitars at times and my bass is distorted enough to get as heavy as Jason’s feet and hands.  Also we added a whammy bar hot rodded clavinet that tony stumbled upon which is basically a guitar inside (strings & pickups) that plays like a piano.  No guitar needed.

Another LA related question. What are some of your favorite hangouts in the city? Maybe a favorite bar, restaurant. Just places that you like going to and spending time at.
We love taking advantage of LA’s proximity to the mountains and ocean. Tony and I are big skiers and love mountain biking and surfing.  For partying – I love going to places I’ve never been whether it’s a new venue or the hole in the wall that I never knew about.

Having lived in other areas around the US, what do you think LA is missing, if anything, that you think would be a great addition to the city?
A big public park in the center of the city where people can hang out. LA just lacks a bit of the community vibe you get in cities like New York or San Fran or any city in Europe.

I noticed you guys have a Twitter account, so I’ll throw in a technology question to round things off. How do you feel services like Twitter and things like Facebook fan pages are changing the way artists are able to interact with their fans? Do you think that, as fans, we have way too much access to your every move?
Not at all. We understand that fans want to be involved any way they can and Twitter and facebook just give us a vehicle to bring the fans more.  It’s how you use it to involve the fans that makes the difference.  We asked our fans through our networks to suggest a cover song for us to play and we chose one, recorded it and made a video. We’re excited to involve people more with our music.  No one will remember when I beat my high score in Doodle Jump. They will remember our music though.

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And there you have it. You should all check this up-and-coming LA band out. Listen to their music, follow them on twitter, be friends with them on facebook. Also don’t miss them at the El Rey on the 27th of this month. My thanks to Mike and the rest of Crash Kings for taking the time to answer a few questions for bored.

I love a good conversation, even when I have nothing to do with it! On Wednesday evening you can catch a convo about “The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, & Human Evolution” in the beautiful Central Library without having to say a word. Dennis Dutton, the embodiment of a bookish fellow — the editor of Arts & Letters Daily, a Philosophy Professor, and a New Zealand gentleman (born in CA) from a family of bookstore owners — will talk with Michael Shermer, from The Skeptic Society, about art and evolutionary science for Central Library’s ongoing [A Loud] lectures, readings, performances and discussions series, this Wednesday. Dutton thinks that our tastes and the arts have something to do with Darwinian natural selection – and he just published a book ALL about it. Oh, dOoo go on…

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WHAT: The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, & Human Evolution
WHEN: Wed, Jan 7, 7pm
WHERE: Central Library in Downtown – parking info
$: free – but reserve tickets here.

Saturday the 4th, Found Gallery in Silverlake opens it’s new exhibit, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” featuring the work of artist Daniel DeSure. DeSure, a graduate of California Institute of the Arts, produced Sleepwalkers which was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, and started an art production company called Commonwealth. DeSure has been active in the L.A. art scene for over five years, so we were eager to find out his take on this city, as well as get a more in depth description of his work.

BLA: Tell us the meaning behind your exhibit at Found Gallery
DS: Im interested in examining the themes that come to light through the elements we surround ourselves with everyday, whether its material objects or information we take in like advertising. How people, especially people my age deal with it. You can’t avoid it…

BLA: When did you decide to explore this theme through art?
DS: I’ve always been fascinated in the idea of what the everyday pieces of our lives eventually add up to or what we think they might add up to in the future.

BLA: This is your first opening at Found Gallery, what do you hope to accomplish?
DS: I want people to enjoy themselves and hopefully leave with their own ideas about looking at these issues in a new way.

BLA: Do you have any influences? Artists or otherwise.
DS: Too many, but mainly all the incredible artists I’ve been fortunate enough to work with. Especially, Doug Aitken and Omer Fast.

BLA: Where are your favorite places to go to in L.A. to be inspired, or simply to explore?
DS: My good friend Chris and I like to “Mission”. It’s a term we came up with when were were kids and we still do it. We drive around late at night and find new spots to explore that we’ve never seen or been in. Abandoned malls , buildings, houses and often times we meet interesting people along the way. LA is full of these places!

BLA: What are some of your favorite art galleries to visit in L.A.?
DS: Regan Projects, Roberts and Tilton, Gagosian to name a few…

BLA: Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?
DS: I’ve been playing with the idea of making a film installation about a guy who is obsessed with light. He starts out staying at his office longer everyday, in front of the computer until he eventually lives there. He only gets up to go to the brightly lit vending machine down a flickering florescent hall and finds himself staring into it for hours.

BLA: List 5 words you feel describe L.A. best.
DS: Less Than Zero , wild west

BLA: Final question, what do you personally do when you are bored in this town? Do you have any recommendations for our readers?
DS: I never feel bored here!

DeSure will be in person at the opening reception for his show from 6-9 p.m. If you can’t make it to the reception, stop by Akbar after 10 p.m. for an after party. The show runs through October 26th.

You’ve heard his tunes, been to his parties, seen his drawings and experienced his lifestyle. We were able to sit down with DJ-Promoter-Illustrator Franki Chan of IHEARTCOMIX and find out how L.A. has been to him so far.

BLA: Since IHEARTCOMIX came into the limelight in 2003, what has been a personal highlight for you?
FC: Check Yo’ Ponytail back in 2006 was pretty cool for me. It was a show that marked the beginning of the trend of music here in LA. Having been Justice’s first time here and MSTRKRFT’s second time, no one really expected MSTRKRFT to be DJs. Everyone expected a band because [Jesse] was in Death from Above 1979. I’m sure people were like ‘what the fuck is this? what kind of music are they playing?’ They didn’t really dig it. But when we began advertising it 3 to 4 months out it was slow at first and all of a sudden it was the show to be at. It’s been dominating the wave of music in LA since. One of our main goals with IHEARTCOMIX was to break all forms of music in one place and our last Check Yo’ Ponytail we had a good time putting Dan Deacon, Erol Alkan, and Hollywood Holt and others together. Also, the IHEARTCOMIX vs. MAD DECENT at SXSW this year was awesome. Throwing a party from 2 p.m. – 2 a.m. that was fun, legal, and unofficial was rad. We’re going to do it bigger this year.

BLA: Where is your favorite place to hang out in Los Angeles?
FC: I really like the Cha Cha Lounge. The original one in Seattle looks exactly like the one here in LA. Most of the staff who work at the one here also worked at the one back in Seattle. So many of my friends from my era that lived in Seattle are always at the Cha Cha and it’s like they’re escaping to another time which is fun.

BLA: What was your first impression of LA when you came?
FC: When I first came I felt like there wasn’t a lot of cool stuff going on. The indie/punk/rock/brit-pop stuff I was exposed to were like Bang or Star Shoes or something. There were cool shows at Spaceland or the Troubadour and stuff but it was all very Hollywood. I moved here at a point in my life when I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. The Hollywood side of things was fascinating to me, not because I wanted to be a part of it, but because there’s nothing like it in Seattle or my original home town in Indiana. I had some friends who were DJs at some of these Hollywood clubs and they would get my friends and I in and we would try and go meet movie stars [Laughs].

BLA: One thing about LA you won’t find anywhere else?
FC: The sheer amount of access to talent here in LA is amazing. It’s crazy how much power the average person has here. You can literally do something and let it be known because who knows your buddy might know someone or work for a magazine or have a blog.

BLA: One thing you think LA is missing?
FC: LA doesn’t really have a sense of community going on. It exists but in a very broad sense. People don’t walk down the street and run into each other and do things together. People make plans, go out and do those things for a purpose and they get the fuck out. Everyone is focused on themselves and it ends there, it’s a little selfish. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing either. LA is the kind of place where you would only want to live here if you have a reason. You only come here if you have a goal like ‘I want to go here and become an actor’ or ‘I want to move here to blah blah blah.’ Then they go out and they shamelessly fucking do it, they make their money and after that they get the fuck out. You don’t hear people say, I wouldn’t want to move here to raise kids. At the same time this is what makes LA cool, the fact that the options are limitless.

BLA: Favorite thing to do when you’re bored?
FC: I like watching movies. A lot of my hobbies are my job like drawing that’s my job. DJing that’s my job. So it’s cool to do things where I don’t have to think about much. I always like going to my favorite comic book shop Secret Headquarters as well.

BLA: Recommend something for people in LA to do NOT to be bored?
FC: Walk up Runyon Canyon, but don’t do the easy trail take the hard one. Then go up the mountains and see all of LA.

BLA: Any event you’re looking forward to coming up in LA?
FC: I would of said Fuck Yeah Fest but that’s over. Detour sounds like fun and you know traveling so much makes me a little behind on what’s coming up. But Toxic Avenger and I are playing a show on Nov. 11 here so I’m excited about that. It’ll be a part of the IHEARTCOMIX tour.

Franki Chan is currently on tour with HEARTSREVOLUTION and then kicks off his IHEARTCOMIX tour in October. Be sure to look out for a coffee table style book featuring some of his illustration work on flyers in the future too. Also, IHEARTCOMIX is looking for interns to help run an awesome label/events company/drive him around, so let Franki know you’re down to work.

*Photo by Molly Cranna