MARCH 2011 |

VOLUM

E 12THE SPRING FASHION ISSUE

BUNKER HILL MAGAZINE

SPRING FASHION ISSUE

+Sam Endicott

of The Bravery

MARCH

SANTEEVILLAGELOFTSfrom $199K

The Seller reserves the right to change prices without prior notice or obligation. All units are subject to prior sale or reservation. Kennedy Wilson, A California Real Estate Broker. License #00746768 WWW.SAnTEEviLLAgELofTS.Com

SANTEEVILLAGELOFTSfrom $199K

The Seller reserves the right to change prices without prior notice or obligation. All units are subject to prior sale or reservation. Kennedy Wilson, A California Real Estate Broker. License #00746768 WWW.SAnTEEviLLAgELofTS.Com

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DEPARTMENTS

CONTENTS

6 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

THE BEAT

13 | Pershing squareThe embattled history of Down-town’s would-be civic centerBy Christian goss

08 | 11th hOur at the PantagesHaving just cele-brated its 100-year anniversary, one of Downtown’s oldest theaters faces a precarious futureBy Denise reich

19 | eDuCatiOn FOr the PeOPLeThe Public School’s (surpris-ingly successful) experiment in crowd-sourcing educationBy Catherine Wagely

THELOOKOUT

27 | JaMes BLaKeBritish dubstep wunderkind re-leases the album that will save popBy Lukas Clark-

Memler

TRENDS

52 | nOir JeweleryLeeora Catalan’s DC Comics-inspired jewelry collectionBy Kristina Dmitrieva

56 | trenD-settersRobertson’s best dressed denizensBy Kristina Dmitrieva

TASTE

23 | rise OF the “sushi naZi” Chef Kazunori No-zawa won’t stand for mediocre sushi, okay?By noah galuten

TONI ADZARPUBLISHER

SHANE DANAHEREDITOR

FASHION EDITORKristina Dmitrieva

GRAPHIC DESIGNCarlos Anthony Olivas

Austin Payabyab 433 South Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

213.624.3010www.bunkerhillmagazine.com

WEB DEVELOPERAndrew Jesien

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSShane DanaherDenise Reich

Catherine WagelyChristian Goss

Lukas Clark-MamlerKristina Dmitrieva

Noah Galuten Jennifer Hadley

SALES DIRECTORArchie Bandaryan

EVENT PRODUCTIONFlorent Sourice

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERSRuben Hovanessyan

Chris SteinbachScott Hugh Mitchel

Jordan HallJeffrey Fittermanl

Ruben HovanessyanKristina Dmitrieva

Carlos Anthony OlivasAustin Payabyab

M A G A Z I N E

M A R C H 2 0 1 1IgNITINg DOwNTOwNsParKs is MaKing

risK-taKing a CuLturaL trenD

When Jason Jaggard came up with the idea for Sparks

in 2008, it was meant to be a for-profit enterprise, helping corporate up-and-comers take career-chang-

ing risks. Now, almostby accident, it has turned into one of Downtown’s

foremost engines for social change

By Jennifer hadley

BEyOND BRAvERy

sOngWriter saM enDiCOtt

From touring with The Bravery, to recording a

double LP with that same band, to writing hit singles

for Shakira, Sam Endicott is a busy man

By Catherine Wagely

THE PROBLEM

SOLvERthe iMPressiVe

Past—anD aMBi-tiOus Future—OF

CitY COunCiLWOMan Jan PerrY

Over the past nine years, Downtown has undergone a renaissance, due in large

part to the work of one ambitious City Council-

woman. Next stop for Jan Perry? How about the

mayor’sofficeby Shane Danaher

By shane Danaher

ON THE COVER: FiONAPHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS STEINBECH

32

46

60

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

THE BEAT HISTORY

11th hour

: : B Y D e n i s e R e i c h

n September 26, 2010, the Arcade Theater, the oldest surviving venue in the Broadway The-ater District, turned 100. There was little

fanfare for the occasion. Most of the cus-tomers who shopped at the electronics store housed in the Arcade’s lobby prob-ably had no idea that beyond the closed door at the back of the showroom, rested

an ancient vaudeville auditorium. The theater’s past is rich; its present is anony-mous, and its future is uncertain.

The Arcade was built in 1910. Original-ly named the Pantages Theater, the struc-ture was designed by architects Octavius Morgan and J.A. Walls. It was Alexander Pantages’ first Los Angeles foothold, and the 33rd venue in his growing vaudeville empire. As part of the Pantages Circuit, the theater screened Pathe and Biograph

Having just celebrated its 100-year anniversary, one of Downtown’s oldest theaters faces a precarious future

9PHOTO BY AuSTIN PAyAByAB

O

at the

Pantages

ALTHOUGH THE STAGE NOW HOLDS BOXES OF ELC-TRONICS INSTEAD OF ACTORS, THE THEATER ITSELF IS NOT GONE.

silent films and showcased a vast array of live variety acts. Colorful vaudeville actress Sophie Tucker performed on opening night. Stan Laurel, Theodore Hardeen and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle all graced the Pantages’ stage. There were acrobats and cyclists; boxers and comedians, trained dogs and monkeys.

Quite inadvertently, a small advance toward the humane treatment of perform-ing animals occurred at the Pantages. When an actor was openly cruel to a horse during a November 1910 show, horrified au-dience members immediately walked out and called the SPCA. The performer, an alumnus of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, was arrested and fined $100.

The Pantages’ run as the flagship the-ater of the Circuit was short. In 1920, Al-exander Pantages turned his attention to a larger and far more extravagant theater on Hill St. and 7th. By the mid-20s the Broad-

way Pantages had been sold to the Dalton brothers and renamed for them; by the late 20s it had become the Arcade Theater. The building was renovated in 1928 by S. Charles Lee, who also designed the Los Angeles and Tower Theaters.

There were brief forays into burlesque in the early ‘30s and newsreel broadcasts during World War II. As the 20th century wore on, the Arcade became a second-run, B-movie venue. During the final years of its life as a cinema, the property was operated by Metropolitan Theatres.

The Arcade enjoyed a brief moment of recognition in March 1991, when it was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. However, the honor did little to keep the theater alive and the Arcade quietly closed to the public in No-vember 1992. Few people seemed to no-tice. An article about the closure in a local newspaper was a grand total of three sen-

10 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTO BY DENISE REICH

THE BEAT HISTORY

tences long. The only reason given for the Arcade’s demise was a “decrease in the number of Downtown moviegoers.”

The Arcade’s future has been in flux ever since. In the early 1990s the theater and its neighbors, the 1910 Cameo and the 1931 Roxie, were acquired by Downtown Management. A plan to demolish all three buildings was soundly defeated by preser-vationists and community officials. Since then, the Arcade’s lobby has been divvied up into retail space, and the auditorium has been re-purposed as a stockroom.

Although the stage now holds boxes of electronics instead of actors, the the-ater itself is not gone. Recent photos re-veal that seats remain in the balcony and rigging is extant in the wings. The gold paint on the proscenium arch has not f laked away, and the walls are still shock-ing red. One clue to the theater’s origin is visible from the street: above the dingy marquee, the word PANTAGES can clear-ly be seen on the building’s façade.

Neither the L.A. Conservancy nor the Bringing Back Broadway Initiative have forgotten the Arcade. Both groups men-tion the theater on their websites and in their literature. The Conservancy’s Satur-

day morning Broadway walking tours used to be permitted to visit the interior of the Arcade, but the privilege was abruptly re-voked in mid-2010.

Will the Arcade live or die? A 2005 study from the National Preservation Part-ners suggested several artistic and cultur-ally oriented uses for the space, including combining it with the Cameo and Roxie. Thus far, no concrete plans for the Arcade’s future have been revealed. “Unfortunately, we are not aware of any plans on the part of the private owner to restore this theater and return it to entertainment use,” said Rick Coca, spokesperson for the Bringing Back Broadway Initiative. “I can tell you that we would like to see and support the restoration of all of our theaters on Broad-way.”

While it waits for a new direction, the Arcade remains off-limits. Only time will tell if the little theater will be able, once again, to make a triumphant comeback.

Arcade Theater: 534 S. Broadway, between 5th and 6th Streets. Tours of the theater district, in-cluding the Arcade Theater exterior, are available from the Los Angeles Conservancy (www.lacon-servancy.org) (213) 623-2489.

PHOTOs BY ANTHONy OlIVAS

Send Portfolio to info@bunkerhillmagazine

CALL TO PREMIERA R T I S T SSOLOE XHIBIT IONSPACE ISAVAILABLEATGROUNDFLOORGALLERY

433 S. SPRING ST., DTLA CA. 90013

THE BEAT HISTORY

: : B Y c h R i s t i a n G o s s

irectly above the redline train that rumbles below Hill Street and resting in the shadows of the stately Biltmore Hotel, Pershing Square is the city’s old-

est park and has for more than a century been in search of an identity and a defined purpose.

Placed in what is almost the geographic center of downtown Los Angeles, Pershing

Square began its life under the name Cen-tral Park in 1866. It bore little resemblance to the concrete square of today. Lush, sub-tropical plantings flourished and meander-ing walkways cut through the park. A large central fountain anchored the park and stone sculptures dotted its grounds. It was a popular meeting and lunch destination for residents and businessmen. Up until the middle of the century, military recruit-ers took advantage of the traffic and rallies

The controversial history of Downtown’s would-be civic hub

13

D

PERSHINGSqUARE

PHOTOs BY ANTHONy OlIVAS

THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORy, THE PARk HAS BEEN kNOWN AS PUBLIC SqUARE, LA PLAZA ABAjA, CITy PARk, 6TH STREET PARk AND ST. VINCENT’S PARk.

for union organizations and socialist po-litical causes were common. The park was a true urban oasis and a necessary refuge. Since then, however, the park’s evolution has been far-less bucolic.

In an effort to redefine and update itself, Pershing Square has gone through a series of name changes. Throughout its history, the park has been known as Pub-lic Square, La Plaza Abaja, City Park, 6th Street Park and St. Vincent’s Park. Finally, on Armistice Day in 1918, the park’s moni-ker was given some stability. In honor of the highest U.S. military commander in World War I, General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing, Los Angeles’ Central Park be-came Pershing Square.

As Downtown and Bunker Hill de-clined, so did the appeal of its civic hub. Downtown residents and businesses fled

west due to decentralization and subur-banization. The park was co-opted by the marginalized. It became the domain of hustlers, pushers and drunks. That made the decision to use the Biltomore Hotel as the staging ground for The 1960 Democrat-ic National Convention very unusual. In an instant, the eyes of the nation were drawn to the hotel and the unsightly square across the street. John F. Kennedy, while staying in a suite facing the park, was rumored to have commented on its rough nature.

American “tough-guy laureate” Nor-man Mailer, in an article for Esquire Maga-zine on the 1960 Convention, was less apt to mince words. He wrote, “Pershing Square, that square block of park with cactus and palm trees, the three-hundred-and-sixty-five-day-a-year convention of every junkie, pot-head, pusher, queen…”

14 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1 PHOTOs BY ANTHONy OlIVAS

John Rechy, a well known writer on Los Angeles and its homosexual culture made his own cruel observations on the park in the literary magazine Big Table 3: “The tough teen-age chicks—’dittybops’—making it with the lost hustlers … all amid the incongruous piped music and the flow-ers—twin fountains gushing rainbow col-ored: the world of Lonely America squeezed into Pershing Square, of the Cities of Ter-rible Night, downtown now trapped in the City of lost Angels … and the trees hang over it all like some type of apathetic fate.”

The fate of the Square was addressed in fits and starts over the years, but the increasing homeless population made the tinkering a futile exercise. The 1984 Olym-pics prompted a downtown business asso-ciation to attempt a complete overhaul, but ultimately the effort failed and the Square remained a reliable haven for the destitute and malcontented.

In 1994, the tumblers fell into place for yet another reinvention and the vision of Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta was brought to bear on L.A.’s foremost public space. Legoretta had become famous for his work in the Southwest for a style that used elements of bright color, play of light and shadow, and solid geometric shapes. It was these hard surfaces, low walls, geometric kiosks,and a 125-foot campanile that even-

tually came to define Legorreta’s Pershing Square design.

It is this design that prevails today, struggling for civic respect.

The park is still, even after these reno-vations, in a state of transition. It was dug up in the ‘50s to provide the framework for underground parking. On paper the idea seemed ideal. Recreate the success of Union Square in San Francisco and kill two birds with one stone; provide public space for pe-destrians and parking space for commuters.

In practice, it hasn’t worked out that well. So much of the park is given to ga-rage access that the pedestrian perimeter has been obscured. The usable space of the park has been reduced. Criticism of the de-sign doesn’t end there. Architects and land-scapers have been hashing out the failings of Pershing Square ever since Legoretta’s ideas first found paper.

Thomas S. Hines, Professor of History and Architecture, Emeritus, UCLA, shares

an opinion that seems to carry weight among professionals. “Its chief fault, for me,” he says, “is that it includes too much ‘architecture’, especially the tower which overwhelms the small site. I wish [Legorre-ta] had reserved more space for trees, plant-ings, and seating.”

That’s the irony of the current design. Initially, it bore more than a passing resem-blance to its intended model: Central Park

15

THE BEAT HISTORY

of New York. Michael Higgins, a Skid Row resident who spends his afternoons in the park shirtless, sunbathing and do-ing crossword puzzles, pointed this out while explaining his preference for the Square. “I think the reason why it seems cold is the big area of concrete, but that’s why they call it a square not a park. It’s not actually a park.”

This is a distinction that seemed lost on park goers on a recent weekend. Kids giggled and played in the fountain. Tour-ists snapped pictures. “Downtown on Ice” was in full swing, and while not an event on par with the Rockefeller Center, skat-ers still turned an endless series of clock-wise rotations. Vagrants played chess in easy company with the lunch crowd and a strong security presence kept a close eye on the whole symphony.

Despite the hard surfaces, geometric planes and playschool colors, John Pollard, an Altadena resident who took the train in to Downtown with his family, explained that he nonetheless enjoyed the Square in its current form. “I like the park,” he said. “It’s great. I go to concerts in the park. I saw the Motels here last summer.”

It remains to be seen whether more of L.A.’s residents will come around to his opinion.

Pershing Square is located at 532 South Olive Street, Los Angeles CA, 90013. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. on week-days and 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. on weekends.

THE BEAT HISTORY

education for the PeoPle

: : B Y c at h e R i n e W a G e lY

he front window of the Telic Arts Exchange would be indistinguish-able from its Chinatown neighbors, were it not for a blue neon sign sit-ting in the window’s far right corner. Though

tending to blend with Chinatown’s over-abundance of neon, closer inspection will reveal that this sign buzzes with the curious inscription of: THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. The storefront’s aberrant use is revealed by a series of such quiet de-tails. In its window are two small sheets of paper, pasted on the inside sill, that explain the school’s existence. It has no curriculum, it ’s not accredited, it has no affiliation with the public school system and it doesn’t offer degrees. But it does offer curious people a chance to learn. And what’s more, they get to learn what they want.

Today’s class, “Analyzing WikiLe-aks,” has a relatively lax agenda. Accord-ing to the online description, it aims to, “explore the substance and structure of the WikiLeaks site, and its implications behind mainstream op-ed characteriza-tions.” It makes the class sound headier than it is. Really, everyone here just wants to understand how WikiLeaks works and whether it matters. Now in its fourth week, the class alternates between work-shops and discussions. On workshop days, a data visualization specialist named Josh helps participants create visualiza-tion techniques to make sense of the data dumps on Julian Assange’s site. On days like today, the goal is to talk.

People trickle in slowly, and the 4 p.m. class doesn’t actually begin until 4:30. We have to wait until after coffee has been made. The massive table that dominates the room (it’s longer than eight feet on

The Public School’s (surprisingly successful) experiment in crowd-sourced education

19PHOTOs COURTEsY OF THE PuBlIC SCHOOl

THE BEAT HISTORY

T

each side) has been around since before the school began. In fact, according to Public School committee member Liz Glynn, it was made for an exhibition that occurred before Telic Arts Exchange transitioned from gallery to classroom, and it may be the school’s most constant feature.

The Public School began in 2007, with meetings held in the basement of Telic’s former Chung King Road location. When Fiona Whitton, who has a background in architecture, and media artist Sean Dock-ray founded Telic in 2003, it functioned as an alternative gallery space, hosting per-formances, exhibitions and screenings. But what came to best describe Telic’s oeuvre was the word “event.”

“A lot of people who had been doing media art had begun to work relational-

ly,” Glynn points out. Telic made the shift with them.

“I began with a concept, which was a school that was sort of a blank canvas,” Dockray told writer David Elliot in 2008. People would propose classes based on what they wanted to learn, or someone with a particular interest or skill to share could propose to teach. The school would run on a donation basis (a recommended $5 per class, sometimes more if classes require special equipment), and, at first, Dockray and Whitton thought it would interact with Telic’s exhibitions. Occasionally, it did. For instance, artist Rachel Mayeri organized a Jane Goodall inspired course on “How to Act Like an Animal,” which culminated with a performance in the upstairs gallery. But as the school became more absorbing,

IT HAS NO CURRICULUm, IT’S NOT ACCREDITED, IT HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SySTEmAND IT DOESN’T OFFER DEGREES.

20 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

the exhibitions began to seem less essential. Dockray and Whitton established

a fluid committee—it changes every few months—to review proposals and, with the help of committee members, created an on-line network for submitting and discussing class ideas. By 2009, they’d moved to their current space at 951 Chung King Road, and Public Schools based on the L.A. model had started popping up in other parts of the country, then other parts of the world (the Berlin school just opened this year). Ac-cording to current committee member Solo-mon Bothwell, you could divide classes into three categories: those that are craft-relat-ed, like carpentry or coffee roasting; tech-driven, like 3-D modeling; or idea-based, like classes on Marx or Los Angeles poetry. “But you don’t have to see it that way at all,” says Bothwell. Even classes that seem to-tally different tend to feed into each other somehow (Bothwell himself facilitated a coffee roasting workshop and a class on the development of manifestos).

“It’s unlike most education, where you would look at a class for its function-ality,” says Adam Katz, who managed the L.A. school before helping to found the school in New York. “You can do things at The Public School that aren’t about what you’re able to get out of them.”

It’s more about the experience of do-ing them with other interested (and in-teresting) people—though the experience

shifts as often as do the people. “It’s very personality driven,” says Glynn. But per-sonalities tend to come and go organically, leaving some residue of themselves behind. “There’s a nice kind of layering that hap-pens here, not like in a normal school.”

“Analyzing WikiLeaks” gets off to a rocky start. A few of us are new to the school, and it’s not quite clear how to best approach the discussion. But we begin to get the hang of each other, and smart comments get made, about privacy, pro-tests, Facebook and the one-man show of Julian Assange. I remember that this is how good seminars always worked, in col-lege: you’d feel each other out, and even-tually, in the best situations, you’d start bouncing ideas around the room in a way that felt almost inspired. The inspiration hasn’t hit yet, but it feels like it will, and that potential is enough to make me want to keep coming to class.

The Public School is located at 951 Chung King Road. Class times vary. Suggested do-nation for a class is $5. For class times, and information about upcoming classes, visit la.thepublicschool.org

THE BEAT HISTORY

TASTE FOOD

23PHOTOs COURTEsY OF SugARfISH

rise of the “sushi nazi”

: : B Y n o a h G a l U t e n

nly in Los Ange-les will you find people willing to pay hundreds of dollars to eat raw fish in a strip

mall. At its best, sushi (being used here as a blanket term) can be a revelatory experi-ence—an invigorating example of nature, coaxed by man into the best version of itself. More commonly, it’s a gummy wad of cold starch wrapped around flaccid seaweed and stuffed full of graying, chopped tuna.

Sure, there are spots between these extremes. If you’re looking for satisfaction but not amazement, you can try your luck at any number of mid-range Little Tokyo sushi joints, fifteen-dollar all-you-can-eat early bird specials, or chain restaurants pushing bland (though medically safe) lunch combos. Times used to be that was all there was out there, but now there’s a new-comer in the mid-range market; a newcom-er who might change the way Los Angeles eats sushi.

His name is Kazunori Nozawa, though he is commonly referred to by the well-earned appellation of “Sushi Nazi.” No-zawa runs his own namesake restaurant in Studio City, located in one of those afore-mentioned strip malls. He is a fierce tra-ditionalist, famously kicking patrons out of his restaurant for being rude, or talking on their phones. He doesn’t care if you’re an A-list celebrity or an old woman off the street; you’re going to eat the food he wants to make, the way he wants to make it. No spicy tuna rolls. No California rolls. Ask him what’s in the chef’s choice menu? He’ll simply point to a sign reading: TODAY’S SPECIAL: TRUST ME.

But while Nozawa asks you to pay top dollar for high quality ingredients, his chain of SugarFish restaurants (currently found in Brentwood, Marina del Rey and Downtown) do not. There is no sushi bar in the Downtown incarnation of SugarFish. Its chefs are hidden behind closed doors, visible only thorough a narrow window on

SugarFish and the mid-range sushi revolution

O

TASTE FOOD

ASk kAZUNORI NOZAWA WHAT’S IN THE CHEF’S CHOICE mENU AND HE’LL POINT TO A SIGN READING: “TODAy’S SPECIAL: TRUST mE”

one side of the restaurant. The menu itself is sparse. It is mainly driven by the three set menu options listed at the top: “Trust Me,” “Trust Me/Lite,” and “The Nozawa.” Each one includes edamame, a bowl of marinat-ed tuna sashimi, a few pieces of sushi and a hand roll or two. Of course, the more ex-pensive the set menu, the more fish you get.

But other than a few fish specials here and there, the menu does not change. Last month’s “Trust Me” is the same as today’s. And beyond the chef’s tasting menus, there isn’t much on which to prey, unless you have a strong desire to order a la carte. There are no salads, no fusion rolls and no scoops of green tea ice cream (all dessert requests should be directed to Bottega Louie, across

the street). SugarFish is there to do one thing: pump out near-identical orders of tender, fresh sushi, day after day after day.

That’s not to say that the restaurant is entirely soulless. The interior is modern/mid-century modern, with exposed con-crete columns pushing through the floating white drop ceiling and subtle, aquatically themed design elements. The servers prop-erly convey the casual atmosphere, wheth-er during dinner or lunch, while guiding guests through the menu with a good bit more patience than we imagine Nozawa himself might deign to express. But the rice is warm (the way Nozawa likes it), the fish is fresh and well prepared, and you can be in and out without having to put any extra

PHOTOs COURTEsY OF SugARfISH 24 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

coins into the one-hour parking meters lo-cated just outside.

The “Trust Me” specials are priced at $19.50 for light, $28.50 for regular and $35-$38 for “The Nozawa.” (Lunch prices are a few bucks cheaper.) Based purely on the fish and rice, and especially when it’s compared against the quality of similarly priced sushi bars, SugarFish is a very good deal.

And yet, eating at SugarFish is a lot like having sex with a really dumb, hot lover. The meat is firm, and fresh, but ultimately, it is no way to achieve real happiness. Once the final bite is consumed, that adrenaline quickly dissolves into emptiness. All of a sudden, I’m pining for something with a little more substance. I have no personal connection to this flesh, no relationship with what’s really behind it. I miss, in the end, watching the guy behind the counter. Without that level of human involvement, it’s just a plate of sushi.

SugarFish Downtown Los Angeles is located at 600 West 7th Street (corner of 7th and South Grand). It is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. and from 12:00 p.m. through 9:00 p.m. on Sundays. Con-tact the restaurant at (213) 627 3000. SugarFish does not take reservations.

Above: Sugarfish’s management team

25PHOTOs COURTEsY OF SugARfISH

gallery

studio

publishing

lounge

4 3 3 S . s p r i n g s t . d o w n t o w n l a 9 0 0 1 5

2 1 3 . 6 2 4 . 3 0 1 0

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

James Blake: : B Y l U k a s c l a R k - M e M l e R

op music will eat itself. Through commoditization and planned obsolescence, the self-cannibalization of populist music is some-thing that cannot be avoid-ed. Thus, purveyors of pop must attempt to transcend

the genre in order to avoid obscurity.We are left with the pop paradox: art-

ists must attempt to avoid the pop pigeon-hole, while at the same time acknowledging the time-tested pop aesthetic.

Enter James Blake—twentysomething London-based producer, leading voice of the misguided, albeit intriguing, dubstep

genre and runner-up in the BBC’s presti-gious “Sound Of 2011” poll. Blake produced three critically acclaimed EPs in 2010 alone, and his eponymous debut has garnered Merriweather Post Pavilion-levels of hype. The recent Goldsmith’s Art School gradu-ate has sold out shows, graced the cover of international music magazines and been called the savior of pop. All this before the release of his debut LP.

A primary factor of Blake’s preternatu-ral mystique is the inherent difficulty of pi-geonholing the kid. How does one begin to define the enigma that is James Blake? To look forward, we must first look back; back to Blake’s unassuming rise, back to the early

The British dubstep producer releases a game-changing debut album

27

PPHOTO COURTEsY OF JAMES BlAKE

THIS IS SO mUCH mORE THAN A 22-yEAR-OLD LON-DONER’S DEBUT RECORDING. THIS IS THE FUTURE OF POP mUSIC.

PHOTO COURTEsY OF JAMES Bl AKE

aughts. Back to the rise of the machines.Following the backlash of the late ‘90s

East London garage and grime scene, a new genre began seeping up from the base-ments of foreclosed apartment buildings. Combining gritty bass, obscure hip-hop samples and violent percussion, club fre-quenters and fringe-electronic enthusi-asts alike reveled in this new style, known in peripheral vernacular as “dubstep.” In the years that followed, dubstep gained formidable buzz and began to shape the electronica blogosphere. Dubstep and the post-banger movement threatened to over-throw the conventionality and traditional-ism of the self-aware legions of longhaired, gravelling rockers.

But because of expectation and an-ticipation (not to mention naive optimism, and even cynical opportunism) dubstep seemed to crumble under the weight of its own ambition. It left room for a new genera-tion of clean-shaven bedroom producers to take power.

James Blake perfectly captures this postmodern, digitalized zeitgeist. On his self-titled debut, Blake does not aim to dis-arm through aural aggression. Instead, this auteur focuses on minimalist deconstruc-tionism along the lines of Brian Eno or John Cage. Blake has beaten the pop paradox by using silence as his main instrument.

On James Blake, fragile vocal lines weave between the nebulous shades of elec-

28 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

tronic instrumentation; soulful mourning is undercut with gentle waves of synthe-sized rapture; vertiginous guitar and off-kilter drum lines evoke seamless introspec-tion. Blake creates a blank aural canvas for the listener to fill with their own hopes, dreams, fears and distant memories. The record is internalized to such an extent that it becomes difficult to distinguish Blake’s musings from the inferred sound your brain automatically fills into the music’s many interstices.

Blake’s dynamic EPs saw the London-er’s deftness behind the producer’s booth take the foreground, but on his debut LP, Blake’s vocals and songwriting skill are given center stage. The dub-inspired pro-duction is still there, but to a much lesser degree. Anguish, heartbreak and loss drip from Blake’s lips and the ebb and flow of his meticulous instrumentation provides the necessary undercurrent. What quickly becomes apparent on James Blake is its au-teur’s perfectionism. Every synthesized riff is perfectly placed for maximum im-

pact. Almost too hermetic in its execution, the record breathes a new sense of life and vigor on the skeletons of bygone genres. It’s actually an ironic contradiction—Blake utilizes many cold, sterile and generally soul-less production methods (autotune, vocodization) to create a rich, evocative and soulful sound.

To taxonomize Blake would be a trivial and belittling effort. The dubstep beats are present, but Blake has reached deep down into the genre and extracted long-buried emotions. There are resonant echoes of the halcyon days of psyche-rock, jungle house and UK garage, but this is not by any means a dubstep record. Like Dylan and folk, or Zeppelin and blues, for James Blake, dub-step is just a well-tread reference point. Blake actually favors the Motown stylings of Smokey Robinson and Peabo Bryson far more than contemporary electronic musi-cians. The heavy soul, R&B and gospel in-fluence is heard throughout, shaping Blake’s cadence, rhythm and general aesthetic. Yet, ironically, it’s Blake’s penchant for these

early twentieth century African American artists that gives the record a fresh feel while maintaining its familiar foundation.

The centerpiece, and lead single of the record, is Blake’s cover of Feist’s “Limit to Your Love,” a textbook example of the ef-fective use of space and silence to create a sense of emotional heft. Blake’s efferves-cent croon and rustic piano jangle gives the already well-loved track a completely new direction. Elsewhere, the lyrical melodra-ma of “The Wilhelm Scream” transforms Blake’s minimalism into an arena-type spectacle. Featuring bare production, with cold, echoing tones intermittently ring-ing out through the hollow space, Blake bleeds onto the track, “I don’t know about my dreaming anymore/ All that I know is I’m falling, falling.” It’s easy to imagine the line sound-tracking Blake’s slow motion fall from a high-rise.

James Blake is modern, but firmly rooted in the past. It’s safe and familiar, but takes huge risks and sounds completely new. It’s sometimes impossibly beautiful and smooth, and at other times dissonant, cacophonous and incomprehensible.

This is so much more than a 22-year-old Londoner’s debut recording. This is the future of pop music. Blake has crafted an album of quiet dynamism, and proven he’s more than just another producer. He’s a pioneer. James Blake is unlike anything we have ever heard before. He combines the soul of a Southern black gospel choir with a certain electronic minimalist flavor. Al Green meets Brian Eno. But in all fairness to Blake, there is no basis for comparison. What we are witnessing is the muted roar of progression, one soulful electronic track at a time.

James Blake is currently available from A&M / Atlas Records.

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

Coming Soon

EspressoCro i s san t

A r t + W i f i 433 S. Spring St.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

THE LOOKOUT SOUNDS

IgnItIng Downtown

PHOTOs BY JORDAN HAll

IgnItIng DowntownBY J e n n i f e r H a d l e Y

Sparks founder Jason Jaggard is making risk-taking a cultural trend, in Downtown and beyond

ason Jaggard is out of his ever-lov-ing mind, and I should know. I’ve inter-viewed loads of entrepreneurs over the years, and Jaggard is the first to tell me, “I am super grateful that my business didn’t take off immediately.”

We’re talking about Sparks™, Jaggard’s brainchild which became a bona fide L.L.C. just last spring, but which originated in 2008 at Pepperdine University. Jaggard, a longtime resident of Koreatown was asked to speak to students at a conference about discovering their passion. “I don’t know a lot about discovering your passion neces-sarily, but I know you don’t discover it by listening to someone speak about it,” he says. “The way that I define passion is not just something that gives you pleasure, but what you’re willing to suffer for.”

He invited students to meet with him for an experiment. “For the next four weeks we’re going to meet somewhere on campus, and every week we’re going to pick some-thing that challenges us, that stretches us, that is uncomfortable.” Initially, ten peo-ple signed up, but as the first meeting ap-proached, cancellations via text message

began pouring in. Jaggard admits he was bummed but decided to host the group for those who didn’t cancel anyway.

When he arrived at the dorm, he was met with a “ruckus” and feared he was competing with a party. Instead, he found that those who showed up had in-vited friends, and the dormitory room was jammed with twenty students. He asked them simply, “What’s one thing you can do this week to challenge your-self? What’s one risk you can take?” The foundation for Sparks was officially set, though it was simply called a “risk group” at the time.

Over the next several years Jaggard would finesse his “risk groups,” defining their ethos as, “5 weeks. 4 risks. 1 ques-tion. What is one thing you can do this week to make yourself a better person or the world a better place?”

Sparks differs in several ways from standard idea-sharing forums, which take place on college campuses across the globe. First, the group is self led, mean-ing that it is run by its participants, as opposed to having a defined leader or

PHOTOs BY JORDAN HAll

J

PHOTOs BY JORDAN HAll

[With Sparks] you’re not there to kick each others’ asses. You’re kicking your own ass.

instructor. Secondly, with Sparks, the only person you’re competing against, in a man-ner of speaking, is yourself.

Each week, members of the group re-mind each other of what their individual risk was for the week, why it was a risk for them and whether or not they were success-ful in completing it. Each member then se-lects a new risk for the following week, and shares their intention with their peers.

Jaggard insists that even if a member doesn’t fulfill their risk for the week, there will be no condemnation from anyone in the group. If you succeed in completing your risk for the week, the group cheers for you. If you don’t complete your risk, the group still gives you encouragement. Guilt has no place in Sparks groups. Individuals set their own risk for the week, and are accountable only to themselves.

Soon enough, Sparks groups began springing up Downtown, Santa Monica and Hollywood, spread only by word of mouth.

But why did this idea catch fire so quickly? Why were so many people interested in be-ing a part of a group?

“Sparks is not manipulative. It is a guilt free zone,” says Jaggard when I question him about Sparks’ similarity to the prac-tice of having an accountability partner. “Accountability groups are a neat idea. But they almost never work. What does work is having people cheer for you. And the more you cheer for somebody, the more access you have to challenging them. But you have to earn it. Very few people have earned the right to challenge people. [With Sparks] you’re not there to kick each others’ asses. You’re kicking your own ass.”

And to be sure, Downtown L.A. has been the beneficiary of numerous people kicking their own asses. Jennifer Kenning, who participated in a Sparks group in Janu-ary 2010, was motivated to launch a non-profit as her way of taking a risk to make the world a better place. She’d recently seen the movie The Blindside and was distraught

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over the fact that someone could go through life never having slept in a bed. She wanted to make a difference. Her first “spark” was to file the paperwork to form a non-profit organization to provide clean mattresses and bedding for the homeless. Week after week, her challenge for the week would include meeting with homeless shelters in Downtown and forming A Good Night’s Sleep (AGNS), a 501 (3) c corporation. In December, together with her partner, Josh Helland, 79 beds and bedding sets were delivered to the Los Angeles Downtown Women’s Center. Twenty-five double mat-tresses were delivered to People Assisting The Homeless (PATH).

Jaggard is quick to point out that he doesn’t deserve credit for the donation to Downtown. But Kenning sees it differently. In the inaugural issue of the Sparks Zine she writes, “There are a lot of good ideas in the world. Sparks creates a platform for you to accomplish them, one step at a time.”

Children throughout Downtown Los Angeles have also become recipients of the good that is being born from Sparks groups. When Mosaic, a non-denominational spiri-tual community that meets at the Mayan nightclub on Sunday evenings, decided to open Sparks to its gatherers, more than 500 people took part in the groups. Anthony and Mandy Inchaustegui decided to make Sparks a family event, and asked their five-year-old son Xander how he’d like to make the world a better place. It was near the start of the school year and Xander wanted to collect book bags and school supplies for children who needed them. His goal was to collect 100 book bags to donate to char-ity. Within three weeks, the family—work-ing together with Mosaic—was able to de-liver 156 backpacks with school supplies to School on Wheels in Downtown.

Jaggard, however, notes that Sparks wasn’t designed to focus on charitable work. In fact, when he formalized his company in the spring of 2010, it was created as a for-profit. His vision was to take the concept to businesses, universities and churches, and, frankly, to sell it. He set up meetings with

prestigious universities, businesses and mega churches. They expressed interest, and… it all fell through. What’s more, he’d already quit his full-time job to focus exclu-sively on Sparks.

It was less than six months after launching the company as an L.L.C. that Jaggard took stock of the situation and re-alized something that would ultimately change the structure of Sparks. “I asked myself: ‘Are you doing this to help people, or are you doing this to make money?’” It was then that he realized that he wanted to help people who couldn’t afford to pay for it. This realization brought him Downtown once again, although he was now living on the Westside.

“There are two sides of urban living. There are up and coming entrepreneur-ial people who are going to be running

the country in ten years, they are just too young to be doing it now. That’s why Sparks works so well. No matter how fast you’re running, you can always run faster. Whether you’re making six or seven fig-

PHOTOs BY JORDAN HAll 35

ures, there are still ideas that you need help pulling the trigger on.

“On the flip side, there are the people who are victims of systemic disadvantages. That’s another reason Sparks works so well. Sparks is inherently non-victim oriented. It is very empowering. Everyone wants to be empowered, both groups.”

To that end, Jaggard decided he want-ed to take Sparks to those who were system-ically disadvantaged. These people fell into three groups: the homeless, inner city kids and the elderly. In September of 2010, hav-ing previously served on a committee at the Bresee Foundation (an after school program that works to keep inner city kids out of gangs) Jaggard set up a meeting to discuss launching a Sparks group. By October, the group was in full swing with fifteen teens participating in the group. The result was phenomenal, and another Sparks session is slated tentatively for March.

Jaggard next approached PATH with the idea for hosting three Sparks groups for families, for women and for men. The groups ran from November into December. The result was the same. People living in the shelter came away from the groups feel-ing inspired and empowered to challenge themselves. The experience was rewarding, so much so that Jaggard is now grateful that his company didn’t take off as a for-profit from the get-go. “This allowed me to do something that matters to me.”

And it’s something he plans to continue doing. “It’s weird being a for profit company that is essentially offering a social service, so we’re now in conversation of creating a non-profit to subsidize that, which would pay for Sparks at places like Bresee, PATH and nursing homes.”

As for the future of Sparks, Jag-gard has a lot on his plate. Over the next few months he hopes to launch a Sparks group at Miguel Contreras Learning Cen-ter. Conversations that had fallen through last year have been reignited. He’ll also be flying to Canada, Colorado and Indiana to pitch Sparks to various organizations.

PHOTOs BY JORDAN HAll

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The House of SGP

+ 323 933 9800 120 S. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036

PHOTO BY JEffREy fITTERMAN

O

B Y s h a n e D a n a h e R

ur initial interview is cancelled, the reason seemingly too banal for a woman who is one of L.A.’s undisput-ed power players. Jan Perry—elected rep-resentative of L.A.’s 9th council district, urban policy maven, and reputably “pugna-cious” political gladiator—has been called up for jury duty.

I can’t help but greet this news with a twinge of sympathetic pain. If I’ve learned one thing from my week of researching Jan Perry, it’s that her calendar is a uniquely crowded document.

Perry has one of the more difficult jobs in Southland politics, representing the ninth of Los Angeles’ fifteen council districts. A hydra-headed political beast, the 9th District encompasses most of Downtown, all of Skid Row and a hefty chunk of South Central—though if you ask anyone in city government, they will re-fer to this latter neighborhood as “South Los Angeles,” a rebranding adopted af-ter the 1992 L.A. Riots.

If that seems like a strange geographic hodgepodge it’s because, well, it is.

The impressive past—and ambitious future—of City Councilwoman Jan Perry

The Problem Solver

PHOTO BY JEffREy fITTERMAN 39

When I ask her, someWhat surreptItIously, about run-nIng for mayor, she Is quIck to straIghten me out. I am not a coy person, says perry. I Intend to do It.

Stand in the right part of the 9th Dis-trict and you’ll be a stone’s throw from both the apocalyptic poverty of Skid Row and the billionaire financiers attending to private suites at the Marriot. The district includes the Disney Concert Hall, the L.A. Live entertainment facilities and the neigh-borhood with the heaviest police presence in the Southland.

In the middle of all this is Perry, and her job is to keep these people happy.

It’s a task in which even treading wa-ter would deserve some plaudits, but Per-ry’s tenure has been remarkable because she has, for better or worse, gotten things done. In her nine years in office, Downtown has seen a sharp economic revitalization, producing by some estimates a whopping 93,000 new jobs. Perry has been a “fierce advocate” for her district, viewed alter-nately as a friend to large developers and a person with whom one would be better off

not picking a fight.And Perry wants that to be just the

beginning. She has her sights leveled on a 2013 mayoral bid, and as with all her ini-tiatives, Perry is determined about seeing it to completion.

When I ask her, somewhat surrepti-tiously, about running for mayor, she is quick to straighten me out. “I am not a coy person,” says Perry. “I intend to do it.” Well, all right then.

“Sophistication and skill”Perr y ’s career in public ser vice has

been colorful and, at least so far as the Southland is concerned, thorough. It began in 1974, during her years as an underg raduate.

Originally hailing from Cleveland, Per-ry moved to Los Angeles in order to attend USC. Her course of study was in journalism,

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CounCilwoman Jan Perry with SeCretary of huD, Shaun Donovan anD CongreSSwoman roybal-allarD at the grounD breaking of SkiD row houSing truSt’S new geneSiS aPartmentS

but this ambition was soon pushed aside by her far greater interest in city politics.

“I was always very involved in com-munity activities,” says Perry. “When I arrived in Los Angeles…one of the first things that I did was participate in the Joint Educational Project, which enabled me to work with kids in the neighborhood school across the street from the Univer-sity.” She adds with a chuckle, “I don’t think I could claim I ever had a career in journalism.”

From there it was a straight shot to a masters de-gree in Urban and Regional Planning (also from USC), which led to a job working for then-City Council mem-ber Michael Woo. Councilman Woo tasked Perry with handling land use planning in the 13th District, a region containing Holly-wood, Silver Lake and Boyle Heights.

“It was a very interesting district,” says Perry, “because at the time there was a lot of development going on. Just like Downtown.”

Planning, land use, and develop-ment would become major themes in Per-ry’s career. Under Councilman Woo she proved herself to be a tireless worker and a strategic thinker of uncommon talent.

“She handled some very complicated cases,” recalls Woo, “and handled them with a lot of sophistication and skill.”

It was this skill that prompted Woo to offer Perry a prominent position in his 1993 mayoral campaign. Woo tasked her with building outreach to Los Angeles’ African American communities, another task at

which Perry proved a quick study. Though he eventually lost that mayoral race, Coun-cilman Woo was surprised to find that he nonetheless carried upwards of 80% of the African American vote.

“The fact that… the campaign ended up being very successful with the Afri-can American community,” says Woo, “was in large part due to [Perry’s] efforts, although I think it’s also safe to say she learned a lot about the African American community from that work that she did in

my campaign.”That work

turned more than a couple heads in City Hall. After her tenure with Coun-cilman Woo, Perry took a job as Chief of Staff with then-9th District Coun-cilwoman Rita Wal-ters. The talents Perry had devel-oped in planning and community activism were put to use in the 9th, though they were soon tempered by another of Perry’s defining traits: her sometimes-intimi-dating tenacity.

Whereas Rita Walters was luke-warm to the pros-pect of building the Staples Center, Perry saw the arena as a boon for urban renewal. “When I

look back at where that parcel was,” says Perry, “it had a camera store and taxi danc-ing place and miles and miles of surface parking, and basically that was about it.”

Walters saw this same milieu, but ex-pressed reservations about its future. She was quoted in 1997 by the L.A. Times, stating that she was “extremely concerned” about the city’s lack of an exit strategy in the eventuality of the project’s failure. Details

41

are ambiguous as to what next occurred be-tween Walters and Perry, but suffice to say that by the time Rita Walters’ tenure at City Hall was coming to an end, her and Perry had parted ways.

Perry worked for a while on the cen-sus, then mounted a sophisticated cam-paign for the 9th District seat, which Walters had been forced to vacate due to term limits. Running against a tough field of opponents, Perry came out on top in the 2001 election.

According to Carol Schatz, CEO of the Central City Association, an organiza-tion concerned with stimulating business investment in Downtown, “[Perry] under-stood the importance, and she understood what it meant not only for the district but also for the city for Downtown to become…a 24/7 downtown.”

The L.A. Live entertainment campus was up and running, 1999’s Adaptive Re-

use Ordinance was allowing new hous-ing units to pop up all across Downtown, and Perry was quick to help set in mo-tion plans for the implementation of the $3-billion Grand Avenue Project, touted as the “Central Park of Los Angeles.”

The transformation of Downtown had begun in earnest, and Jan Perry was at its political helm.

District 9Despite having her calendar derailed

by jury duty, Jan Perry and her staff (of which there are 18 members, according to the city’s website), are able to fit me in on a Wednesday morning. I’m scheduled in between Perry’s appearance at that day’s council meeting and her rush to the court-house to see if she has been placed on a jury. Though this obligation can’t be easy on the Councilwoman’s schedule, her reac-

councIlWoman Jan perry at the ground-

breakIng for the neW 10 acre south la

Wetland park

opposite:councIlWoman Jan perry WIth the central

dIvIsIon lapd mounted unIt, rIght: councIl-

Woman Jan perry at the grand openIng of the

doWntoWn Women’s center

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tion is more in the vein of grudging accep-tance than last-minute panic. Jan Perry, I am soon to learn, takes to such challenges with a stoic’s resignation and a workman’s assurance in her own ability to cope.

A robust, African American woman in her mid-fifties, Perry is a forceful presence, someone who speaks with a noted lack of fear about the sometimes-tortuous intrica-cies of city government. As we begin our interview in a conference room just to the rear of L.A.’s neo-Corinthian city council chamber, it is the details of policy to which Perry brings the greatest lack of hesita-tion. Fortunately, policy is an area in which there’s more than enough to talk about.

Perry has been representing the 9th District since 2001, and were term limits not forcing her from the position in 2013, one could easily envision her holding onto

the council seat indefinitely. As evidenced by her track record, and by her own insis-tence, Perry is a problem solver. She has built herself indelibly into the fabric of the 9th District and both her supporters and detractors can at least agree that she gets things done.

Since 2001, Perry has been integral-ly involved in the implementation of the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, the clearing of red tape for the L.A. Live entertain-ment campus, the organization of Michael Jackson’s memorial service, the creation of Downtown’s “Hail-a-Taxi” program, the refinance of Angeles Plaza, the plan-ning for the Broad Museum, the building of the Downtown Women’s Center, the maintaining of MOCA’s independence from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the undertaking of the Grand Avenue Project, and the investment of more than

that she has decided her district needs in-vestment, and as with many of her initia-tives, Perry has been dynamic in achiev-ing that end.

“She’s not an ideologue,” says Carol Schatz of the Central City Association. “She’s a pragmatist, and she likes to get things done. And she does it, sometimes, without a lot of fanfare and so we all have a great deal of respect for her in that regard.”

While she has certainly been known to court the public eye, most of Perry’s work is undertaken with her characteris-tic diligence and a matching lack of pomp. Pragmatism is the watchword in her camp. When the city council was uncharacteristi-cally deadlocked this past May over Los An-geles’ budget shortfall (a titanic, $485-mil-lion dearth), Perry came down in favor of cutting city services, rather than attempt-ing to fill the gap by increasing revenues.

$52-million in public parks. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“I am fascinated with problem solving and dealing with people’s issues and creat-ing a deliverable at the end of the day,” says Perry. “I try to achieve solutions that people can see and feel and touch.”

As she delivers this last statement, Perry slaps her palm on the conference table to illustrate.

Perry’s tenure in the 9th District has certainly favored the tactile. An alternate point of commendation and derision for the Councilwoman has been her close familiar-ity with business interests, whose influx to Downtown has meant the creation of the aforementioned 93,000 jobs, as well as 17,000 new housing units and $41-million dollars in tax revenue. Her collegial rela-tionship with AEG aside, it seems clear

PHOTO COURTEsY OF COuNCIlWOMAN JAN PERRy 43

This action would seem at odds with her ostensibly liberal political leaning (and her implied need to court favor with the city’s labor unions), but when questioned about the decision, Perry reveals a deceptively simple rationale.

“At the end of the day you have to do what’s best for the city,” says Perry, “to make sure that the city survives and reach-es some measure of financial stability…I have to make the best decision that I can in the position that I have now, and not make any calculations about what this may mean for me in the future.”

Fair enough, but it would be disingenu-ous to say that Jan Perry is operating with a disregard for her future, or her public pro-file. At the very least, she strikes a balance between show and necessity. On Perry’s website, you can find a prominently dis-played photo of the Councilwoman posing with Kanye West, as well as a photo of her with attendants of “Star Wars Day” at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In this lat-ter photo, Perry stands smiling, wedged be-tween a lineup of storm troopers, aliens, and other costumed fans. It’s a photo op if ever there was. Perry has been known to make herself visible on such occasions, including taking the opportunity to offer a plaque of commendation to this very magazine.

Of course, on that same website you can find a dollar-by-dollar breakdown of Perry’s work in Public Parks, and a sum-mary of her involvement in the half-doz-en committees of which she is an active member. You get the impression that both her policy initiatives and media histrion-ics are just part and parcel of her job. Her highest-profile moments involve an ad-mixture of both, and be it sage judgment or gross coincidence, a succession of these occasions throughout Perry’s council ten-ure has helped the councilwoman to her current renown.

In 2009 Perry found herself in the role of Acting Mayor during Michael Jackson’s memorial service. That title is one that Perry assumes whenever Mayor Antonio Villairagosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti are both out of town, and this time it just so happened to coincide with the decade’s foremost media field day. Perry was unexpectedly

placed in the national spotlight, serving as a city spokeswoman while AEG (the investment group behind Staples Center) staged an elaborate memorial service for the departed pop star. Though the rancor over the city’s $3.2-million involvement in that memorial has only recently begun to cool, Perry’s role in the event remains a near perfect storm of political exposure.

The second of Perry’s highest-profile moments came via a 2010 interim control ordinance that put a yearlong stay on the construction of standalone fast food res-taurants in South Los Angeles. While ev-eryone from the L.A. Weekly to the Wall Street Journal cast this action as a bit of liberal-minded finger-wagging, Perry her-self viewed the ordinance as a simple land use matter. “What it does encourage is the assemblage of land,” says Perry. “So for the land that we have left to develop we are able to assemble larger parcels so we can as-semble grocery stores and possibly build shopping centers to bring in other types of food choices.”

Third among Perry’s more media-heavy run ins was the affair surrounding the South Central Farm. A fourteen-acre parcel of land that was being farmed by pri-marily Latino volunteers, the South Central Farm had been turned over to community agriculture while in a purgatory between city and private ownership. In 2003, the property was sold back to original owner Ralph Horowitz, and the farmers were told to vacate so that their crops could be razed in favor of warehouses. In the high-profile fracas that ensued, Perry came down on the side of the developer. The farm was eventu-ally plowed under, though Perry worked to resettle the farmers to another plot of land in her district.

Though Perry was somewhat demonized in coverage of the affair (especially in the documentary The Garden, which was nomi-nated for a 2009 Academy Award), she responds to questions about the issue with her characteristic focus on the brass tacks of gov-erning. “[The farmers] were on private prop-erty and it was a month to month agreement started under Mayor Bradley, and the leaders of their movement…knew that. So that was private property. And it wasn’t any deeper than that.”

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The Jigsaw PuzzleSome point to the exposure provided

by Michael Jackson’s memorial service as the catalyst that set Jan Perry on her current mayoral ambitions. Whatever the source, Perry’s desire for the office of mayor is now a well-recognized political f a c t . A s Ca r ol S c h at z s i mpl y put s i t : “She’s runnin’.”

Perry herself is still gearing up for her presence in what is looking to be a very crowded field. Of the early contenders for 2013’s mayoral race, Perry’s name is often mentioned in tandem with the similarly open secrets of City Council President Eric Garcetti, and millionaire developer Rick Caruso’s simultaneous bids for the office. As far as policy initiatives, Perry is approach-ing the campaign with a focus on the issues that have defined her city council tenure.

When questioned about her mayoral platform, she mentions, “obviously the economic recovery, to elevate that to the highest position in terms of priorities and to continue to attract new investment into the city.”

It’s too early to get into the nuts and bolts of that ambition, but Perry is clear about her desire to aggressively address California’s budget problems, and to con-tinue in her crusade to turn Los Angeles into a “truly international city.”

Beyond that, 2013’s mayoral race is still a murky affair. In the words of one-time mayoral candidate Michael Woo,

“It’s like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle to put together an effective, citywide mayoral campaign…Only time will tell who is able to solve the puzzle of it.”

Though Jan Perry is predicted to be at a funding disadvantage in the race, she is still very much a contender. If her tenure in the 9th District has proven anything, it is that Perry is an adept at navigating the “jigsaw puzzle” of city government.

“You have to be willing to develop re-lationships with people and communicate and you actually have to enjoy it,” says Perry of her work on the council. “Because if you don’t enjoy that sort of thing, you shouldn’t be in this business, because it’s hard; it’s taxing, it’s challenging, and it’s all consuming. As for me, I’ve spent years understanding not just the communities I represent, but I think I do have a strong cu-riosity about what makes people tick.”

Perry has used that curiosity not only for the betterment of her district, but also to carve herself a nigh-impen-etrable niche in L.A. politics. In inter-views I conducted for this story, the

word “pugnacious” cropped up at least three times, and with good reason. One of the bigger surprises of my interview with Perry occurs when I broach the

CounCilwoman Jan Perry at the Downtown target lease signing

[continued on page 76 ]

45

BEYOND BRAVERY

no longer a new Yorker and no longer a one-band man, things are moving quickly for The Brav-ery’s Sam endicott talks about his ongoing creative stormf

by Catherine Wagely

o r years, Sam Endicott has had more anthems weaving through his head than he can man-age. Some feel deeply, g utturally real; oth-

ers seem to result froma more f leet-ing sentiment. The frontman for The Bravery—a band whose soul-spilling sound and ‘80s inf luences tethered it to the past decade’s “New Wave Re-vival”—Endicott has written freneti-cally since his career began. “I come up with these little ideas,” says Endi-cott, “these kernels that could become songs in one hundred different ways—you can really go crazy. Of all these songs I come up with, half don’t make any sense for the band. I used to just throw all that stuff out.”

It was John Hill (whose credits in-clude M.I.A., Kings of Leon, Santigold and Wu-Tang Clan), co-producer of The Brav-ery’s 2009 album Stir The Blood who first told Endicott that all those unused songs could find homes outside The Bravery’s repertoire. They could become pop or electro hits for glossier, lighter acts.

“Creatively, that was kind of a new lease on life,” says Endicott, who recently co-wrote “She Wolf,” Shakira’s quirkily carnal entrée into electropop.

That entry into pop was only one of

the recent change-ups in Endicott’s career. He has recently moved to Los Angeles, no small change for the D.C.-raised Go-thamite whose decidedly East Coast sound matches his East Coast pedigree. (He and bandmate John Conway graduated from Vassar and moved to NYC’s Chinatown to-gether, then frequented underground NYC dance clubs before playing their first Brav-ery gig in Brooklyn.)

When I show up to Endicott’s Hol-lywood apartment, it feels like a film set. There’s a whole crew of us here, and we’ve all got equipment—a wardrobe rack in the kitchen, a make-up kit on the counter and lights going up around the living room. But this L.A.-typical production scene isn’t enough to diffuse the literate, New York vibe that these dimly lit rooms put out. There are rain-drop spotted windows, dark woods, browns and maroons. A pile of books on the floor near the sofa looks like something right out of a Woody Allen set (it includes Harry Potter, some Chuck Klosterman, Kurt Vonnegut and John Ir-ving). The only unruly corner, the one that breaks the mood, is filled with a desk, lap-top, speakers and electrical cords.

Before we sit down to talk at the far end of a long dining room table, Endicott tries on a black leather jacket sent over by a PR agency. Its design mashes “rock star” with “aviator,” and it turns out to be too big,

F

47

which seems appropriate; personas that come in gift bags shouldn’t fit (though, to be fair, the dapper jacket Endicott’s al-ready wearing happens to be a PR gift too). Plus, persona has become less central to The Bravery in any case. The aggressive look—eyeliner, unruly hair, black nail pol-ish—that the band embraced when it first emerged in 2003 has diffused over the past eight years as they’ve branched beyond the circle of their own deep, dark sound.

Bands either break up—like the rivalry-ridden Beatles or the communication-chal-lenged Pixies—or grow up, like healthy adult siblings who manage to maintain family ties alongside their own full-fledged lives. With bass-ist Mike Hindert launching Mer-rifield Records, John Conway working out of his family winery and building a new Central California studio, and Endicott now writ-ing for other performers, The Bravery has chosen the latter route.

But if growing up has helped keep the band alive, it hasn’t changed much about Endicott’s approach to songwrit-ing. He’s still plundering, revamping, re-visiting and remixing his own repertoire

as voraciously as when he started“I moved to New York around the time

The Strokes became a thing,” says Endi-cott, who speaks in pithy, unembellished clauses. “Listening to that first Strokes al-bum, it sounded like it was made in a base-ment. I thought, we could do that, but we should try it with keyboards.”

Early on, before The Bravery even ex-isted, Conway would suggest ways to re-invent the punk spin-offs Endicott com-posed. “So what if we take these songs and remix them, and do them all electronic,” Endicott remembers Conway saying. “The song ‘Tyrant’”—an almost-ballad reminis-cent of The Cure—“was on our first album.

We remixed it and played it at a house party, and all the girls

started dancing.” At that par-

ticular party, En-dicott and Conway

played “Tyrant” at least five times. “You could see people thinking, ‘What is this? Play it again.’ Ever since then the band has involved an element of taking ideas from electronic music and then playing them in a more human way.”

“Human” meant earnest but dance-able—none of that club music about

“[ThE BRAVERY’s]”music is hAppY FROm ThE

wAisT DOwN AND sAD FROm ThE wAisT up

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clubbing. The Bravery’s approach would be a sort of neo-punk shaman-ism, meant to acknowledge life’s pains and snags, then push past them.

Before their self-titled debut album, Conway and Endicott found guitarist Mi-chael Zakarin and bassist Mike Hindert via newspaper ads and drummer Anthony Burulcich through a friend of a friend. They recorded on an iMac in a basement, using Conway’s array of keyboards. “Ten years earlier we couldn’t have done this band,” says Endicott. “A group like De-peche Mode would have had to be in a mas-sive studio paying a million dollars a day to get the sound any kid with a garage band can get now.” Still, the funny thing about of the technological hip-ness of The Bravery, who had an internet following before they had a label, is their old school sound. “An

Honest Mistake,” the band’s first single, again recalls The Cure in the way its emo-tional severity butts up against its forward-driving beat.

Endicott used to tell interviewers he rarely listened to new music, a claim that, while diff icult to believe, ex-plained how his brand new band could sound so retro. Some critics assumed it had to do with post 9/11 solace seeking, musicians trolling through record col-lections in hopes of returning to an ear-lier emotional purity, but a better ex-planation for Endicott ’s sound is that he treats feelings, even the most blatant ones, seriously. His no-holds-barred approach to soul-searching certainly hearkens back to the confessional intensity that

characterized much of ‘80s rock, but mainly it just expresses timeless, clas-sic sentiments.

“I’ll just write on my phone, a nap-kin, wherever,” explains Endicott, talk-ing about his collage-like productivity. “I’ll just randomly come back to it later. You see all these patterns; something in my phone will relate to something on this napkin over here. And I’ll realize there’s a story I wasn’t consciously aware of. So those subconscious stories become the songs. A lot of it has a spiritual element to me. The songs I write tend to be kind of dark. But I’m not about dwelling in sad-ness. I’m trying to transcend that, trying to overcome it.”

Endicott writes the lyrics first, though now that he collaborates with other song-writers regularly, he’s realized his ap-

proach is backwards. Most start with the music. This reverse approach lends itself to “trying to transcend,” and may explain the frequent colli-sions between the The Bravery’s lyric desperation and gung-ho rhythms—“The guy that mixed the Stir the Blood, [Michael Brauer] said, Bravery music is happy from the waist down and sad from the waist up.”

In 2006, after an intense run of touring, The Bravery decided to push itself somewhere new. It en-listed Brendan O’Brien, a producer who’d worked with Stone Temple Pi-

lots, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen and had a reputation for getting a live, organic sound. “We thought that would be an in-teresting change for us,” says Endicott. “We’re such a non-organic band.”

Called The Sun and the Moon, the album had two sides, one in which they tried to buck their own tendency toward synthe-sized sound. On the other, released later as The Sun and the Moon Complete, they canni-balized side one, infusing it with the rawer electronic sound that had been theirs since the beginning. They called side one “The Sun.” “It’s us playing together, and singing together in harmony. Then, “the Moon” side has almost no acoustic instruments and no playing together as a band. It’s done as a remix album.” Most of The Moon Side

[ThE sONgs] wERE DARkER, sOmETimEs EVEN ViOlENT,” ExplAiNs ENDicOTT. “sO i ThOughT, This is whERE mY hEAD is AT. This is ThE kiND OF music wE’RE gOiNg TO mAkE RighT NOw.”

49

was made on tour, in the back of buses or in basements.

If The Sun and the Moon sometimes feels like it’s trying too hard to be everything, it also feels like a nice lead-in to the branching out that members of The Bravery would be-gin as they worked on Stir the Blood, an album that feels weirdly at home with itself.

“I was writing all these songs. They were darker, sometimes even violent. So I thought, this is where my head is at,” ex-plains Endicott. “This is the kind of music we’re going to make right now.”

Take, for example, the single “Slow Poison”: “We were on tour forever and I could never see my girlfriend at the time, and it was like a piece of me was missing. It was killing her and killing me. And there was really nothing that could be done and it felt wrong, it felt unnatural and like this poison, like I was slowing dying.”

“Slow Poison” is followed by “Hatef—k,” a track that veers toward sadism (in its music video, directed by bassist Mike Hindert, a woman in a gas mask cuts a vag-inal hole into her partner’s stomach), then by “I Am Your Skin,” a hungry song that

shoots for the impossible with lyrics like “I wanna feel everything you feel.” The al-bum ends with a lighter form of the same desire: “Come, come like sugar my love . . . I wanna eat you up, up, up.”

On Stir the Blood, The Bravery seems particularly good at being The Bravery—raw, replete with guttural emotion, “happy from the wait down.”

This February, The Bravery headed out on its first tour in a year. They began a residency at London’s Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen the first week of February, which, because of a record dispute, marked their first appearance in the U.K. in years. “We’ll go back with all the red tape bullshit behind us, and say, ‘This is us, just see us play,’” Endicott said, speaking two weeks before they headed out. And he should be optimistic because right now, things just feel right.

Endicott calls it a “creative vortex.” The Bravery is thriving, but he’s also able to pursue new voices and outlets. “It’s like the perfect storm of creative thought. All these different things going on, and it... [continued from page 76]

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Photographer - Ruben Hovanessyan Photographer Assistant - Angela M.Art Director - Vahe BandaryanHair & Make-up - Linh Tran at Atelier Sav using ORIBE haircareStylist - Catherine Wright

53PHOTOs COURTEsY OF nOir

TRENDS FASHION

NÔir Jewelry: : B Y k R i s t i n a D M i t R i e v a

eeora Catalan’s career as a jewelry designer came about somewhat accidentally. Her nOirjewelry line was born when, while working as a stylist, she was called

on to produce a set of bead necklaces in a pinch. Catalan constructed the necklaces from scratch, caught the eye of the folks at Italian Vogue, and things have snowballed nicely from there.

Most recent ly, Cat a la n ha s pro -duced a col lect ion of jewelr y pieces inspired by D.C. Com ics superheroes. It ’s a pa ir ing t hat matches Cat a la n’s feist y in novat ion w it h some hef t y bra nd equit y for pieces t hat boa st a super-powered swag ger. We a sked Cat a la n about t he col lect ion , her h is-

tor y in t he biz a nd what it ’s l ike to see your jewelr y on Kat y Per r y.

Bunker Hill Magazine: Did you always have a passion for jewelry?

Leeora Catalan: Yes, I have been collect-ing jewelry since I was a teenager. My mom collected costume jewelry, so it must be ge-netic. I’ve always been drawn to cocktail rings, and ‘70s pieces specifically.

BHM: You started your career at Ralph Lau-ren and Oscar De La Renta. What were your positions at those firms?

LC: At Ralph I was everywhere. It was my first job out of school. I worked in pro-duction, design, on shoots. It was the best schooling you could ever imagine. At Oscar

Leeora Catalan’s collection of D.C. Comics-inspired jewelry

L

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I worked for his secondary line as an As-sistant Designer.

BHM: How did you transition from being a fashion stylist into becoming a jewelry designer?

LC: While working as a stylist for a fashion show, I needed to find jet bead necklaces. I couldn’t find any in the market, so I made them. After the show I was approached by a department store wanting to place an order and Italian Vogue wanted to shoot them. That’s actually how we got the name Noir as well! Noir is “black” in French.

BHM: How did the idea of “Fig the Flying Pig,” worn by Katy Perry, come to life?

LC: I have random ideas all the time. It’s part of our novelty animal collection. I feel like people think I’m insane sometimes when they look at the line.

BHM: How did you come up with an idea to design a collection for DC Comic?

LC: I have these three large glass doors in my house; I also have three kids. They

each get their own panel to decorate with stickers and be creative. I noticed that they were mostly filled with super heroes and the idea just came to me. I wanted to make super hero/heroines into high-end jewelry.

BHM: What was the most challenging point in your fifteen-year career?

LC: I can’t really think of one challenge specifically. Everyday there are lots of challenges when you own your business. It’s just part of everyday life.

BHM: What should we except to see in the future collections?

LC: More fun collaborations!

I WORkED IN PRODUCTION, DESIGN, ON SHOOTS. IT WAS THE BEST SCHOOLING yOU COULD EVER ImAGINE.

Above: Katy Perry wearing “Fig the Flying Pig”

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ANNAOccupation: Nurse

What I ’m Wearing: Dress by Joie Purse and boots by Chanel

TAmArAOccupation: Actress

What I ’m Wearing: T-shirt by Topshop

Leather jacket by H&M Vest by Mango

Jeans by Guess Boots by Steve Madden

Purse by H&M

Bunker Hill’s official style stalker, Kristina Dmitrieva, finds this month’s

best dressed on Robertson

57PHOTOs BYKrist ina Dmitr ieva

JAsoNOccupation: Jeans SpecialistWhat I ’m Wearing: Beanie by H&M Scarf by Diesel T-shirt by G-star Belt by Gucci Jeans by 7 For All Mankind Shoes by Converse

olgA Occupation: ActressWhat I ’m Wearing: Scarf by Louis Vuitton Coat by Etro Skirt by Etro Boots by Salvatore Ferragamo Purse by Ralph Lauren

TRENDS FASHION

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Dress - Kelly NishimotoRing - Robert Anthony

Coruscated

B l ac kPHOTOgRAPHER: CHRIS STEINBACH

MODEL: FIONA @ LA MODELS STyLINg: SHEREE CARELLA MAKEUP: ROKAEL LIZAMA ASSISTANT: KEVIN BECKHAM

59

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Dress - Alana Hale Cuff - Lisa Stewart

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Dress - Adolfo SanchezNecklace - T.Cyia Shoes - Vintage

Corset - Beauty Is Pain

Blazer, Corset, and Skirt - Mink PinkShoes - Dolce Vita

63

Corset - Beauty Is PainSkirt - Ai for AiRing - Robert AnthonyBelt - Vintage

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Dress - Kristina Dmitrieva Shoes - Matiko

MysteriousL i g h t Photographer -Scott Hugh Mitchell www.scotthughmitchell.com Photographer Assistant -Nestor Omar Leslie Stylist-Trinia Ellicette Stylist Assistant -Joshua Wrightington Make-up-Mathias Alan (using Tarte cosmetics and Kate Somerville skincare) Hair by-Vahe Bandaryan Art Director-Vahe Bandaryan Model-Marielle@NEXT

Ivory tulle dress by Christoforos Kotentos: 4500€Made by order at Chic Little Devil Style House and PRRing by Dalita Heels by Jessica Bartlette

Landmark leather coat by Veda: $670.00 Dynamite pant by Veda: $374.00 www.thisisveda.comDonna Mizani Velvet Bra Top by Chic Little DevilMulti-layered pearl necklace by Left Turn: $11,500Black Double Strand by Left Turn: www.leftturnjewelry.com

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Aurelio Costarella Silver Dress www.aureliocostarella.comSam Edelman Heels Purse Stylists own

Silk taffeta dress by Christoforos Kotentos: 3,800Made by order at Chic Little Devil Style House and PRSugar Cube Earrings by Left Turn, $300 www.leftturnjewelry.com

Python body suit by David Alexander: $80 www.DavidAlexanderFashion.comShrug by Korto Momolu Style # km111: $280.00 www.kortomomolu.comTwilight Earrings by Left Turn $235.00www.leftturnjewelry.com

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Silk taffeta dress by Christoforos Kotentos: 3.800€ Made by order at Chic Little Devil Style House and PRSugar Cube Earrings by Left Turn: $300 www.leftturnjewelry.comCrystal Bracelet Stylists own

72 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

Landmark leather coat by Veda: $670.00 Velvet Bra Top by Donna Mizani: Chic Little DevilMulti-layered pearl necklace by Left Turn: $11,500Black Double Strand by Left Turn: www.leftturnjewelry.com

White suit cape and straight cut pants by Lloyd Klein: www.lloydklein.com Sugar Glacier Necklace by Left Turn: $3,465.00 www.leftturnjewelry.com Ishayra Aqua blue ring by Ishayra: $63www.ishayra.com

74 B U N K E R H I L L | 0 3 / 2 0 1 1

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[continued from page 45] subject of naysayers who have expressed doubt as to whether she can draw the multifaceted support necessary for a run at the mayor’s office.

When I pose these concerns to Perry, she doesn’t answer them right away—instead, she smiles and fixes me with a knowing gaze. When she speaks, it’s with dry amusement: “I would say that those people clearly don’t know me.”

[continued from page 36]But for now he’s just happy with the fact that Sparks is spreading by word of mouth and has already reached across the na-tion and as far afield as China, Austra-lia and Ireland. “My dream is to make personal responsibility and healthy risk taking a cultural trend,” he says. I suppose that doesn’t sound all that crazy after all.

James Blake

[continued from page 50]could be music, filmmaking or writ-

ing. I just want to be around them.” The Bravery is working on a new al-

bum as well. “It’s very romantic,” says End-icott, “a lot of love songs. I’ve never written like this before. . . . We’ve only recorded a few tracks, and I’m just working. I have friends here now who get together, and we hang out and try come up with something great. Then, if we don’t, we’ll just drink a bottle of wine. I mean, I sound like a fucking hippy. I moved to L.A. and I’m growing out my hair. But I really just like being here.”

Jan Perry Beyond Bravery

The 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild AwardsHeld at The shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on January 30, 2011

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONYA WIsE

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MARCH 2011 |

VOLUM

E 12THE SPRING FASHION ISSUE

BUNKER HILL MAGAZINE

SPRING FASHION ISSUE

+Sam Endicott

of The Bravery

MARCH