Mark your calendars! On May 14th, we will be taking part in the grand opening of ELEXARE art supply store in Long Beach.
With live painting from thebadcharacter himself, along with James Haunt and musical performances from PHENIK, Destruct, Jroz, Fresh Raheem, & Guess?.
ELEXARE will also be having a spray paint sale, as well a taco man on-site, give-aways, live DJ, blackbook session and tons of art on display.

So make sure to come stop by and check out the event on May 14th from 12pm-8pm!

Just started working on a project with DJ Sean Prince. We are redesigning his old site and also doing some logo/branding work for him. For now we designed a splash page as a place holder till the new site launches. Stay tuned for updates on this and other projects we are currently working on. Click on the pic above to visit his temporary site.

If you frequent the blog then you know we get down with Ninjasonik whenever they’re on the westcoast. This time around they headlined the free/all ages Mad Decent Block party.

I got a call Saturday afternoon from Telli, aka BathroomSexxx, letting me know that they were going to stop by our place before the party to run through their set.  Roofeo, who replaced DJ Teenwolf, was/is currently in France touring with The Deathset. Taking his place for the party was DJ Hoff.

Hoff was the first one to show up to the crib on Saturday with his friend Nick. Nick had a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada. They were more than welcomed.  Rapped with them for a minute before the power couple Billy and Natalia showed up.  Natalia runs a sweet ass blog called Meow for The Hundreds, which is one of Billy’s many skate sponsors.

Minutes later the ninjas show up. Its pretty much a packed house now.

Beers popped. Photos snapped. Set rehearsed. Off to the Mad Decent Block Party.

The block party was located just east of downtown off 6th and Mateo, just across from the Nabisco Lofts.

There we a few people in attendance.

Andy & Andy

The Bartman aka Ben Robey aka Team Robey

NINJAFUCKINSONIK

Of course they rocked the show till they had to shut it down. Be sure to check out Natalia’s blog Meow for additional photos from Saturday. As well as our set on Flickr.

Photos taken by Greg.

We recently wrapped up a new site for Pulse Recording and Check Your Pulse Publishing.  They manage some very successful writers and music producers around today.  Bonnie McKee, for example, wrote Katy Perry’s ‘California Gurls’, which was number 1 for six weeks straight.

For the site, they required a custom mp3 player, blog and twitter feed, social networking plugins and newsletter.  The MP3 player was, in my opinion, the most challenging aspect of the site.  It required that a separate playlists loaded based on the page you were viewing.  This challenge was overcome by using conditional php tags.  We are very satisfied with the overall look and functionality of these sites.  Check them out.

Visit Pulse Recordings and Check Your Pulse Publishing.

Last week was a week to remember thanks to a visit from Ninjasonik. Fresh off the release of their new album, Art School Girls, the boys came through to put on a couple shows out here in Los Angeles.

Tuesday I picked up Jah-Jah in Venice and shot across town to The Berrics for a quick skate session with Manny. We met up with Telli and Kevin later on in the hills at this studio. It was an awesome experience watching them lay down and create a track practically out of thin air. We left the studio around midnight and headed to Cinespace in Hollywood where the guys were expected to make appearance. Thanks to Steve Aoki for the awesome party.

Wednesday they played REDD at V20, which was a wild club party that ended with up with us coming back to LA, eating $80 worth of Carnitas Michoacan (Thanks Sugu) and the guys from Ninjasonik camping out at our house. Spent all Thursday indoors living like with rock stars. Showed the guys around DTLA Art Walk then hit up the Standard for a little pre-show party. The show that night at Spaceland was dope, but the show after at Freak City was out of control. Underground after hours insanity. Great energy. Always amazed to see after hour spots like that get wild.

Barely made it to the weekend, but was super hyped to see the homies perform multiple times out here in LA. If you haven’t already, get their album, Art School Girls, and get tickets to see them perform along MIA, N*E*R*D and Die Antwood at HARD LA, July 17.

Be sure to hit up Flickr for more pics from last weeks insanity.

Here are a few flicks from Saturday night’s after party celebrating the opening of the new МИШКА store in Echo Park.  The after party was held at the Echoplex featuring performances by WAVVES, Best Coast, Andy Milonakis and 12th Planet.  Special shouts and thanks to West from Rogue Status and his girl Mink for getting us in without any wait.  Congrats to МИШКА on the new store located at 1547 Echo Park Ave! Be sure to check it out!

Ease Da Man of МИШКА & Michael David of RockSmith

Johathon from New Era

YUTO (check out his BLOG)

Best Coast

WAVVES

Andy Milonakis

West

12th Planet

I had the honor and privilege of attending the Nike DJ AM/ DJ Premier Pack Launch Party in Los Angeles this past Saturday. The event was held at the Ricardo Montalbán theater. Now you probably know DJ AM (RIP) and DJ Premier, but do you know who Ricardo Montalbán is? Here let me refresh your memory. KHAAAAAAN!

This party was insane. When I showed up, DJ Spider was rocking the tables and Ben Baller was on the mic, hyping the crowd. The event was RSVP or invite only and all ticket sales went to the DJ AM Memorial Fund. Throughout the night, they raffled off numerous pair of boxes that included a pair of the DJ AM Dunk Highs and DJ Premier Air Force 1s and 2 limited edition vinyl records commemorating each DJ. The first 10 in line actually got a free pair. One guy told me he was standing in line since 3pm that afternoon. CRAZY!

A scratch session in honor of DJ AM went down that included DJ Spider, DJ Vice, DJ Homicide and even Ben Baller, who claimed to have not deejayed in 6 years!  Peep a video of the scratch sess.  After that, Alchemist followed up with a more than honorary set. So much talent on those decks, especially with DJ Premier closing out the night.

Last time I saw Premier spin was MAGIC at the Famous after party in Vegas. I didn’t think anything could top that, but Premier murdered those decks and the crowd went nuts over all the ill tracks he pulled out. All in all, there was a lot of love in that building. For Nike, for DJ Premier, and especially for DJ AM. Rest in Paradise fam, we miss you.

Thank you Chelby from Deckstar for the invite. Shouts to DJ Kevekev, KRODON, Alchemist for a killer set, DJ Spider, WC, Ben Baller and everyone else that night.

As always, more pictures can be found by viewing this flickr set.

Who would’ve thought that the coolest place to party on a Friday Night is in a museum? All “Night at the Museum” jokes aside, the Los Angeles Natural History Museum throws some of the coolest events every first Friday for the first six months out of the year. It’s truly a sight and scene to be experienced; dancing and drinking in the middle of a museum, while DJ lights bounce off dinosaur bones. These events are all ages running from 5:30pm – 10:00pm. They have dinner concessions and for the 21+ crowd, 3 bars. For music, two live bands usually perform in one hall, while DJs spin in another hall all night.

DJ SPIDER

2009 was highlighted with musical acts such as Wolfmother, LA’s favorite wild-man The Gaslamp Killer, and Z-Trip, amongst many others. The opening night of First Friday kicked off on January 8th with the Tune-Yards as the opening act. Resident DJ Them Jeans and headliner DJ Spider were killing it all night on the tables. The headliner for the night was Atlas Sound, which is the solo project from Deerhunter front man, Bradford Cox.

THEM JEANS

ATLAS SOUND

First Fridays at the Natural History Museum isn’t just about the musical acts. Each First Fridays season is based around a theme. From 5:30 – 8:00pm, the museum holds a tour and discussion centered around their current exhibits. In 2010, the museum hopes to show a different side of Southern California, away from the lights and glamor; with “The Science of California”. They are bringing in six of the region’s top scientists to discuss the cutting edge science on issues important to Southern Californians.

Admission to the museum is $9 for adults and runs until June. For a full schedule of events and more info, please visit the First Fridays site. Be sure to check out more pictures at our Flickr set for First Fridays.

Also got a mix I made that has Atlas Sound’s new song “Quick Canal” featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab. It’s is the last song on the mix and comes in around 27-minute mark. This mix contains various songs, some new, some old, from artists such a The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The xx, HEALTH, Animal Collective, Arpline, Broadcast and more.

Listen:
Chillen Like A Villain Mix

Here is a video from the Ninjasonik show on January 7th, 2010 at “The Heist” in Downtown Los Angeles.  Special thanks to Manny Santiago for filming and Mark Rodriquez for throwing an incredible party.  Happy travels to Ninjasonik.  Europe..you’re not ready!

“NINJA FUCKING SONIK. SONIK FUCKIN NINJAS!” was the chant coming from the crowd this past Thursday night at “The Heist” as  NINJASONIK ripped the stage.  Ninjasonik is Jah-Jah, Telli aka Bathroomsexxx, and DJ Teenwolf bringing together each of their own musical tastes, inspirations and skills. Ever since I saw their “Tight Pants” video, I was hooked on what Ninjasonik was bringing to the table.  I downloaded all their mixes and free songs and watched all their videos, becoming more and more a fan of the style and energy that they brought with their music.  I had to see them live!  I’ll give you a little background on how I got to meet this incredibly humble and talented trio and was able to shoot photos for them on stage.

DJ TEENWOLF

Jah-Jah & Telli

While doing promotion/marking for The Wild Ones, I met Randy Beerz from NY when he became our official TWO graffiti writer out in NY.  Apparently NY is very similar to LA; in that everyone knows everyone else.  Not only had I seen Randy in a random Ninjasonik backstage video, but I saw them “twittering” each other.  Sure enough these cats were good friends and partied all the time in NY. Not only that, but the Ninjasonik guys had showed love by having a Wild Ones sticker in the first part of their “Daylight” remix video!

So of course I was stoked when I heard they were playing out here in L.A.  The day of their show, a good friend and talented skater Manny Santiago was taking them to The Fast Life.  I hit up Manny to tell him that I was going to meet them them as I figured this would be a perfect chance to meet these guys.  Got to the shop just in time as they had just picked up a bunch of The Wild Ones gear and were headed out.  I introduced myself and they had nothing but respect when I mentioned I was the one behind The Wild Ones blog.  These guys are awesome!

I asked them if they had a photographer for tonight’s show and DJ Teenwolf said “You!”.  Dope!  Said our peace and they left to get ready for the show.

Ninjasonik were performing that night along with Them Jeans and DANOH at “THE HEIST” new location in Downtown L.A.  I met with The Heist owner Mark Rodriquez aka HYPHY CRUNK, an awesomely humble and talented guy.  He is the man behind what is becoming one of the best nights in L.A.  If you attended Together As One, you’re probably familiar with The Heist as they had a stage showcasing their resident DJs.

LUIS, JAH-JAH, MANNY

Met the homies Manny, Luis, and Felix at the show in the Ninjasonik VIP/Greenroom.  The energy inside was intense!  Let me just say that after all the video I’ve seen of live performances, I wasn’t ready for this one!

After a cool set from Them Jeans, I followed Ninjasonik on stage..and here are the resulting photos.

BATHROOMSEXXX

DJ TEENWOLF

JAH-LOVE

SOMEBODYS GONNA GET PREGNANT

PUNK

HANDS UP

Wild One

To see even more photos from the show, please visit the flickr set.

Stayed tuned for footage from the show! Uploading now!

click here for more…

D’s sister Aleczandra is an extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician. She came by for a quick shoot at the studio on sunday and photographed really well. thebadcharacter will be working with Aleczandra to brand herself by designing her blog, CD cover and booklet. It was a pleasure to work with her and we will continue to post updates on this project as it moves forward.

Our usual Sunday ritual of happy hour sushi on Sunset Blvd collided with the Annual Sunset Junction Street Festival.  Luckily for us we were able to sidestep the required $20 entry fee since our sushi spot was about 20 feet inside the entrance.  I, for one, love events like this.  With musical acts such as Morris Day and the Times & Arrested Development, how could this not be for the win?  Actually, there were a few bands/ DJs that are worth mentioning such as Jason Bentley, Built To Spill.. and.. well actually that’s all I can think of.  Perhaps there were some other bands and DJs that were cool, if you think so, feel free to send me a download link. I’m always more than willing to give it a listen.

-Photos courtesy of D$