Twan’s List

A BRC Fire Performance Competition

“Fire Idol”

Fire by Trick Concepts has teamed up with Los Angeles Fire Effects to bring you “Fire Idol” - a Burning Man Event. A parody of the T.V. show “American Idol”, Fire Performers will compete for Fire Trophies by surviving their elimination round, only to come face-to-face with our three Fire Idol Judges in round two.

When: Thursday, August 30th, 2007 @ 10:30 pm - 12:30 am right after Oceans of Fire.

Where: The Shiva Vista Project Stage on the Playa at Burning Man.

To Enter: to sign up or for more information visit: www.fire.trickconcepts.com

Space is limited, so sign up early!

A Note to Performers:

All participants are required to check in. At that time you will be assigned a performance group number, and be given fueling/safety instructions. Check-In will begin at 10:00pm. Participants who arrive at check-in after 10:30pm cannot be guaranteed a spot.

The first round will consist of 2 to 4 people performing for 1-1/2 minutes on stage simultaneously. One person from each round will advance to round two. Round two is the judging round where each performer will perform alone on stage for approximately 2 minutes, then come face-to-face with our Fire Idol Judges!!!!

Fuel (white gas only) will be provided by Fire Idol, unless you are fire breathing, in which case you will need to provide your own fuel.

Propane fueled fire trophies will be gifted to first, second and third place winners, and will resemble “the man” fire breathing, spinning poi, and spinning fans.

The Fire Idol Judges:

Our “Simon” – Vlad Marinkovic

Vlad is an engineer specializing in high temperature materials. He is an experienced fire breather, and an expert in slow motion poi. He is a Director at “Los Angeles Fire Effects”, a fire based theatrical production firm. Best known for his sharp tongue!

Our “Paula Abdul” – Anna Maltese

Anna balances being an animator and a student of Wushu / Kung Fu, with running “Phoenix Projekt”, a Los Angeles based fire troupe. She is best known for her ability to blend martial arts and fire performance on stage. Her quick wit is by far her deadliest weapon!

Our “Randy Jackson” – Roger Lai

Roger is a poi spinner whose DVD has taught numerous spinners to do the behind-the-back waistwrap. He helped start Fire Drums and the Hookahdome spin jams. Don’t let his sense of humor fool you. He has high standards when it comes to fire performances!

Our MC for the Evening - Chirs “Poon” Ory from Dance, Dance, Immolation!

Let the mayhem begin!!!

Graveline’s work exposes and acknowledges the beauty hidden in our seemingly mundane daily experiences. It reveals the depth and illusions created by reflections, shadows and movement. Her intention is to inspire people to look outside their probable reality, instigate smiles and escort the viewer into a heightened state of consciousness and possibility.

NO DIVING was her first endeavor as an artist. While daydreaming about a house she’d like to build, she thought it should include a hologram of a swimming pool on the living room floor. The idea evolved into a video installation, which has been shown by LACMA, Bank Gallery and the L.A. Art Show. She has since produced video, photography, light installations and a billboard in New York city.

A message and an invitation from the one and only Dr. Groovy:

This week: I am back from Tanzania and Kenya and will have stories of Nairobi, Shirati, and the clinic there and my climb up Kilimanjaro (I made it!) and a little bit of London thrown in for my friend Nick. I may even mention the peaceful days at my parents’ farm in Virginia (beautiful)

Sit back, tray tables in the upright and locked position and join me on the quest for understanding…

Dr. Groovy

Saturdays 4:30-6 pm Pacific time

on

Phrequency&Phrenology

• aol IM: killradiostation
• phone: 213-252-0998

You can also check out old shows by getting to the downloads here

Coming soon… “Ask Dr. Groovy” on YouTube!!!

Yeah baby yeah-

Peace,

Dr. G

Phrequency&Phrenology 4:30-6pm PST

Saturdays on killradio.org

A lovely Alien Faerie Goddess was just one of many wonderful visual treats at the Do Labs Lightning in a Bottle music and arts festival.

Have a look at the latest photo gallery provided by the always great Curious Josh, whose images always seem to capture the very essence of whatever event he’s attending.

Sez Josh:

Hi All!

I’ve finally thrown up my photos from Lightning in a Bottle!

And for those who know Mark Zabala, and Aubrey… pix from their Pajama birthday are up as well.

enjoy!

- Josh

Clicking on the image of the Alien Goddess above will take you directly to Josh’s Lightning in a Bottle 2007 photo gallery. While you’re visiting Josh’s site, have a peek at his other galleries, too. Loads of fun. Just a nice reminder that we have some of the greatest events, the most colorful people, and the best parties right here in L.A. Pretty much all the time!

Thanx again, Josh!

The Mutaytor and DJ Wolfie Present:

THE MUSTACHE SHOW

at the Roxy
August 3rd, 2007
8:30 pm to 1am
9009 West sunset blvd
West Hollywood, California

5$ Presales available at djwolfie@djwolfie.com (20 at the door)

CLICK HERE FOR 15$ PRESALES

Join us as we present the first in a series of highly interactive theme shows featuring the music and performance of the world famous MUTAYTOR Traveling Musical & Theatrical Revue.

On this outing, we will be celebrating the history, power and might of THE MOUSTACHE.

We encourage all to costume and ornament themselves accordingly to participate.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MOUSTACHE, ONE WILL BE PROVIDED FOR YOU.

Special guests:

• DJ WOLFIE (Hipgeneis)
• PORTER TINSLEY
• DJ BLUE (blueinsomnia)

Plus, the DIY “Blues for Bukowski” music video

Being a friend as well as a huge long-time fan of Mike Watt and his various musical adventures, I thought I’d share a couple of cool Mike Watt offerings:

Hey Folks,

You can hear me work the thudstick w/ Steve Hodges on drums for violinist Chris Murphy’s “Blues for Bukowski” and yep, that’s a fuzz bass solo I did in the middle of it (Chris’ idea!)

watt

Plus, the Linda Bukowski interview. A must read for any true fan of Charles Bukowski:

(The image below) will bring you to a spiel I did last year w/ mister Bukowski’s wife Linda here in my (San) Pedro town.

watt

Have a look at Paynie’s photos from the Steam Punks party in downtown Los Angeles, another fine nighttime affair from the HipGenesis crew.

(click the image to see the photo gallery)

Art Before Commerce:
Sculpture in Illinois to be Replaced…

…by a pharmacy

Well, so much for culture…

A well-known and much admired large-scale sculpture will be dismantled to make way for a pharmacy.

The landmark art piece, officially named “Spindle”, is a towering sculpture of eight cars impaled by a giant steel nail. It became famous for its appearance in the 1992 comedy film “Wayne’s World”, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. The sculpture is also known as the Car Kabob and the Eight Car Pileup.

To this day, Spindle attracts movie fans to the shopping center parking lot which has been its home, located in Berwyn, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago.

Said Mayor Michael O’Connor:

From a marketing standpoint, I like the Spindle. It has definitely been a plus for the community.

Berwyn Mayor Michael O’Connor

Regardless, the edgy sculpture will be removed this summer to make way for a Walgreen’s pharmacy. It could be moved elsewhere, though the cost of doing so would be high. Seems as though the “plus for the community” didn’t carry much weight in the face of big business. When compared to a pharmacy (which can be found on any street corner) the plus became a minus.

Said the artist who built the piece in 1989:

Personally, I would have moved the Walgreen’s and left the Spindle where it is. The dismantling (of my art work) is painful and is a loss for Chicago.

California artist Dustin Shuler

I couldn’t have said it better. What a shame.

Attend a screening and DVD release party for

Journey to the Flames - 8 years of Burning Man

Saturday July 28th at 7:30 pm

Fine Arts Theatre at Wilshire and La Cienega Blvds.
www.journeytotheflames.com

A full screening of the film, a panel including the director and cast. See the acclaimed documentary which chronicles the unique event including 8 years of art, music, people, volunteerism, philosophy and special moments of burning man.

The documentary chronicles a group of friends as they head off to one of the largest and mysterious social experiments in the world. Every year for one week 40,000 people meet in northern Nevada to create a city out of empty desert.

After that week, Black Rock City (or “the playa”) disappears without a trace including its zip code, newspaper(s), radio stations, and airport. The rules are simple: No commerce, bring what you need to survive, leave no trace, participants only, and no spectators. Take a journey into a world of art, music, sexuality and fire. Lots of fire…

You might find the following study fascinating. It explains a lot. I found it out of the blue on the Wikipedia.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon whereby people who have little knowledge systematically think that they know more than others who have much more knowledge.

The phenomenon was demonstrated in a series of experiments performed by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, then both of Cornell University. Their results were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in December 1999.

Kruger and Dunning noted a number of previous studies which tend to suggest that in skills as diverse as reading comprehension, operating a motor vehicle, and playing chess or tennis, that “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge” (as Charles Darwin put it). They hypothesized that with a typical skill which humans may possess in greater or lesser degree:

1. incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill,
2. incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others,
3. incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
4. if they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

They set out to test these hypotheses on human subjects consisting of Cornell undergraduates who were registered in various psychology courses.

In a series of studies, Kruger and Dunning examined self-assessment of logical reasoning skills, grammatical skills and humor. After being shown their test score, the subjects were again asked to estimate their own rank whereupon the competent group accurately estimated their rank, while the incompetent group still overestimated their own rank. As Dunning and Kruger noted:

Across 4 studies, participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd.

Dunning and Kruger

Meanwhile, people with true knowledge tended to underestimate their competence.

A followup study suggests that grossly incompetent students improve both their skill level and their ability to estimate their class rank only after extensive tutoring in the skills they had previously lacked.