Writer, Editor, Investigative Journalist
Burning Man's reputation for bacchanalian revelry is well deserved. The festival is one of the planet's biggest parties, famously crescendoing in the immolation of a towering wooden stick figure on Saturday night, accompanied by a chaotic, high-firepower pyrotechnics display that, unlike most fireworks shows, feels all grand finale, all of the … Continue »
In a move emblematic of the fierce competition for museumgoers, MOCA will follow the recent phenomenon of the LACMA Rock by importing a "heavier rock" transported from "much farther away," the museum announced in a statement. For MOCA's installation, dubbed Elevated Math, artist Layne Christensen will transport an even more gigantic boulder from … Continue »
Is a friendly game of strip dreidel a matter of concern for the Department of Homeland Security? To celebrate an exhibit and a documentary detailing the high jinks of prankster crew the Cacophony Society ? best known for helping to spawn Burning Man and SantaCon in the early 1990s ? the group is creating a "Caco-palooza" at Santa Ana's Grand … Continue »
By Paul Abramson and L.J. Williamson You have no legal right to sex, and never had. In fact, in case you haven't heard, Texas Republicans want sodomy to be a crime again. Last June, the Texas Republican Party embraced a political platform that opposed the legalization of sodomy. To be clear, sodomy law refers to either oral or anal sex. … Continue »
Two books cut to the core of an L.A. obsession: female beauty Fragrant steam rises from an enormous vat of tea, and steeping in the brew at this Koreatown spa are three plump Korean grandmas. Their nudity, and the undulating rolls of fat ringing their waists, seem to trouble them not at all. The ritual of a communal bath is clearly comfortable. … Continue »
The stereotype of Valley residents is that once you drive over the hill, everyone is over the hill ? if not numerically, then philosophically. However, since work began on the new Valley Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge, San Fernando Valley residents have had hope that the spectacular new structure could undo a million … Continue »
It's 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, and already the Valley heat is making its afternoon plans known. But on this sprawling expanse of green, with a glittering reservoir visible in the distance, moist grass cools your feet under the sheltering shade of trees, where Geno DeVandry has parked his camp chair and his cooler full of Gatorade. The … Continue »