Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Welcome to the Insta-hood. This week’s feature IG-er is @rose.knows  !

1.Tell me a bit about yourself.                                                                                                           “I am a native Los Angelina and Jill of all trades living and working in LA. I DJ in and around East Los.

Outside of DJ’ing, I enjoy dark films in sunny places, creating magick, contemplating the absurdity of reality and the desperate need for art that provokes.

2. How would you describe your dj style?                                                                                       “I like to consider myself an ambiance architect. I like to create a mood or set a scene and let the patrons play within it. Sometimes it’s a familiar vibe and sometimes it’s not, either way it’ll be interesting. I generally enjoy playing music that personally moves me in some way and I can only hope someone else feels the way I do.

3. What are you current top five records and why? 

“My most dreaded question but in no particular order:

Pink Industry – Low Technology – a friend of mine recommended this album and although I had heard of the band before I hadn’t listened to this particular record. It’s a perfect post punk album with a very unique sound.

Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery – I’ve always loved ELO but I recently revisited this album because I’ve been on a mega Disco kick as of late. I love the fact that this album is one part disco, one part Beatles and one part WTF.

Purple Disco Machine – Soulmatic – I can’t remember how I heard about PDM but when I first heard one of their tracks I could have sworn it was something from a few decades prior. They have a real throwback deep house and disco sound that I love and was quite surprised when I came to know that this record was released in 2017!

Boy Harsher – Lesser Man EP – This hard to fine EP is from one of my favorite new artists. Their music is equal parts dark, sultry and synth with gorgeous female vocals.

Liam Gallagher – As You Were – I love Oasis and I adore Liam. This record is a stunning example of a solo effort done right.”

4. How would you describe your fashion?  Who are your favorite icons?

“I don’t conform to a specific fashion style and typically dress in whatever my mood calls for. I do however love to dress up in “themed” looks. Since I do so many different types of dj nights, I like to dress in the style of that event because it makes it more fun. My style icons are Pam Hogg, Dita Von Teese, Anna Karina, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Siouxsie Sioux and Enya.

5.  Do you have any exciting events coming up in the future that you would like to share?

“I have several nights coming up that I’m particularly excited about”:

Mad Fer It! – an homage to 90s Madchester, Baggy, Brit Pop and Acid House Dance Party

70s Prom – a 70s prom themed dance party where I’ll be djing Disco and 70s rock, punk and junk

Sex Cells – a Massive Divine Ball – a Divine Trash costume contest and party where I’ll be hosting

Cult of Trivialities – a new Trivia night I’m starting in LA that deals with subjects varying from True Crime to the Paranormal to Cults to Film to Music and beyond!

Everyday is Like Sunday – a Smiths/Morrissey Vegan Brunch and Karaoke fundraiser for Mercy for Animals

Because We Must Podcast – a podcast that is still in the works that discusses the love and compulsion towards music with other interesting Los Angelinos

Bay Area DJ Battle – I’m djing an all female dj crew battle with my crew: Girls Gone Vinyl, in Oakland mid-May (this will be a first for me!) Details TBA! 

Thank you Rose for letting me interview you! If you have any questions or would like to know more about her. Here is her contact information:

On Instagram:

@rose.knows , @cultoftrivialities , @becausewemustpodcast

Twitter: @djroseknows , @becauzwemustpod

On Facebook:

DJRoseknows

singyourlifesundaze

cultoftrivialities

becausewemustpodcast

Until next time!

Un

Welcome to this month installment of Wo(man) of the Moment. This month we celebrate

RHODA PENMARK!

You made recognize this character from the book by William March in 1954 called “The Bad Seed.” 

In 1956 it was made into a movie that was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred Patty McCormick as the original “Bad Seed” Rhonda Penmark!

Rhoda was the original problem child but with her cool persona and persistent charm she turned her trouble and horror into classy affair.  Yes she would literally do whatever was in her power to get her way. Like lie, cheat and kill but no one at first ever seem a wiser to this little girl’s mean streak since she always use her child like innocent and charm.

She was also my inspiration in eye wear ever since I watch this movie over a decade ago because all of my sunglasses have been in the cool cat eye shape. She wore it so well and very classy!

When there was times when Rhoda knew she was in hot water she would use her charm to sway her mom’s mind with this classic line:

Rhoda Penmark proves that horror is not always in a obvious scary looking package. It could be in a form of a sweet looking innocent child!

Congrats Rhoda on being the Wo(man) of the Moment!

Until next time!

Today Artist’s Spotlight is on Lauren Ütter (ig: gutterutter)

1.  Describe your art atheistic:                                                                                                     “A juxtaposition of gross out and pastels.”

   

2. Where do you find inspiration when creating your art? :                                   “Anything from Monsters, cartoons, horror and whatever is completely and utterly absurd.”    
3. What is your favorite piece you created and why?                                                          “My favorite piece is probably “Pit Stain”  It’s really cool to see it being used as feminist imagery when I never even had that in mind. It’s cool to see what things become after you vomit them out into the universe and watching them take on this life of it’s own.”

   

   I also really like the Pee Wee princess reimagining Henrietta from Evil Dead as a princess inside of Pee Wee’s playhouse. I like the idea of iconic horror with a feminine touch.”

   

   4.  I noticed you post a lot of cartoon stuff! If you had to make up a Saturday morning cartoon line up of classic cartoons: What five cartoons would you pick and why?                                                                                                                                “AAAHHH!! Real Monsters, Rocko’s Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, Casper and Toxic Crusaders.”

   5. Do you have any exciting things you are working on or shows you would like to share?                                                                                                                                        “Got a few things I’m working on.”

    

   If you have any questions or would like more information on Lauren’s art work her contact details are:

Lauren Utter

Instagram is @gutterutter

Thank you so much Lauren for letting me interview you!

Until next time!

In this week’s Welcome to the Insta-hood we are featuring IG-er @astraleyez

1. Describe a little about yourself.                                                                                      “Hello there, my name is Astral Eyes, although  I sometimes  go by the name of James Weigel. I am an artist living & working in Los Angeles. I’ve been called the “psychedelic icon maker ” by LA WEEKLY  due to  the nature of my work which is mostly collage that deals  with the visionary experience. Using pieces to invoke and inspire the viewer’s  own inner connection with  the divine consciousness. 
2. I noticed you collection quite a lot of comics. What are your top five gems in your collection. Why?
   “Ahh comic, my  true love! I have been collecting comics since I was old enough to walk! Literally, my first comics were shoved in my hand by my father  and I have been reading and collecting ever sense. Asking me to chose my favorite is like asking a parent to chose their favorite child! LOL!

    I have  a very eclectic taste in comics, and through the decades my tastes have changed, but I still appreciate all those old incarnations of my comic book collector self. Currently I am obsessed over the early days of the comic strip and have been finding old books about those amazing artists.

   

   One book that just came out about a virtually forgotten artist Herbert Crowley from the  early 1990s. It is absolutely mind blowing! Some of his drawings look as though they  have have a feel of the underground comics of the 60s, only they are from like 1908! He was a visionary!

   Getting back to comic books, I suppose if I had to pick, here are my choices:I am a huge Jack Kirby fan, so I would have to include New Gods. I would also add this  fantastic early cover by him of Black Magic: the infamous FREAKS! cover. It reminds me a lot of another of my favorite comic artist Charles Burns. Then probably the gem of collection,  an original edition  of the origin story of the Crypt Keeper by Jack Davis because it is such a fantastic cover! Another of my favorite artists is Berni Wrightson !! I absolutely love that cover of WEIRD MYSTERY TALES, that summoned demon sitting on the poor dabbler in the black arts! WTF?! That is so good!

   Then of course, what collection is complete without an original  copy of House  of Secrets 92 , first Swamp Thing, and that classic cover by Wrightson. Then going with the theme of ” dabbling in the black arts gets you wrecked” ( which is one of my favorite things in comics) is the Bruce Jones cover from his Twisted Tales. Those mushrooms growing out the demon’s  back, & the roses?! WOW what?!  What a total show stopper!

     Lastly, as a bonus the oddities I enjoy is a Christian propaganda comic from the 70s (produced by Jack T. Chick) – SPELLBOUND? – like a moth to the flame, what a fantastic cover!  Stonehenge recreated with 8 track  ( I also have the 1980s version where they updated the 8 tracks to cast tapes.)  It is about the devil taking over  the music industry! I could on for days about about all the amazing comic artist from other parts of the world, like Philippe Druillet, Guido Crepax, Jean Giraud Moebius …but I’ll save it for another day!

   3. You met Alejandro Jodorowsky a couple of months ago. What was the occasion? What did he talk about?                                                                                                            “I had the good fortune to meet and talk with Alejandro Jodorowsky and his wife Pascale Montandon  at the opening of their art show here in LA.

   

   They have been collaborating on a series of drawings for almost  a decade. Talking with him and her after seeing their deeply personal and spiritual art was an amazing experience. He has such a wonderful presence, so warm a happy to talk with complete strangers as though  we were old friends. I had been a long time fan of his work so needles to say it was definitely a top moment in my life so far!

   4.Can you talk a bit about your art that you create? What was your favorite piece that you create and why? Who was it for?                                                                           “I started making my collage work around 2006, under the name owleyes then later changed  to Astral Eyes. My practice and belief centers around the connection that the creative force  has to the divine nature of ourselves. I believe that art has a deep  healing effect  and can be used to communicate not only to others but to that divine source. The actual process in creating is the mediative and sacred act while the product becomes the  manifested in the material, a living icon that other may activate.  I have made lots of pieces for  various people including one for a David Bowie tribute album called “We Were So Turned On” out on Manimal Records. Bowie himself approved the cover art and thought it was pretty nice that he liked it a lot. Though I don’t really have a favorite  piece (the one I currently work on tends to be my favorite!)  I think Gravesnakes (2008) has a lasting effect on me.  I made it at a point in  my life where I was dealing with  a lot problems and I feel like that particular  piece is still very charged with all my hope and longing of create a better  quality of life! I consider it to be a very positive piece and filled with transmutation symbology.”

Thank you so much James for the wonderful interview! If you would like more information or have questions for him his IG is : @astraleyez

Until next time!

Hello and welcome to this week’s installment of Welcome to the Insta-Hood. This week IG person is @jeffreymixed 

1. Describe a little bit about yourself.                                                                                             ” I am one of the co-creators of Scream Factory–a horror Blu-ray brand based out of L.A. that focuses on mostly on retro films. I’m 46, born and raised in VT and have been living in Los Angeles since 1991. As far as my tastes go: I am constantly stuck in the 70s and 80s–which I am totally fine with! I am big-time obsessed for some reason with the films The Fog (1980), The Fan (1981), Cruising, Carrie (1976), The Sentinel (1977), Prom Night (1980) and Halloween (1978.)”

2. How did you come up with the Screamfactory?                                                                  ” It’s a bit complex but the short story is that the company I work out – Shout Factory – was in a position in 2012 to be open to starting a horror/sci-fi brand. Between myself and Cliff MacMillan (also who works at SF), we came up with “Scream Factory” back then and have released over 300 Blu-rays since (with more on the way). I have to add that many other talented people at Shout Factory work on the brand as well from every department (creative, production, PR, Sales, customer service) and the collective hard work has paid off!”

3. What are your top five “bad” (but it is sooo good!) movies?                                          “Wow! It’s hard for me to list a Top 5 my all-time favorites “so-bad-its-good” films because A) I love and own SO  many of them and B) they all entertain me on a comedic level. I would say the following come top of mind: Xanadu, The Lonely Lady, Valley of the Dolls, Showgirls, Mommie Dearest. They never fail to entertain new people who watch them. Close runner-ups: The Room, The Apple, The Swarm, Body Rock and The Pirate Movie. But, my God, there are SO many more!”

4.I noticed you post a lot of Dynasty. Who is your favorite character and/or episode?  ” Alexis is EASILY my favorite character on Dynasty. Without her (and Joan Collins, who played her) the show would have been nothing. Runner ups: Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear), Dominique (Diahann Carroll) and Caress (Kate O’Mara). Favorite episodes are any of them with a catfight or slap…which there are several LOL!” 

5. What 80’s show did you used to watch a lot and thought was fantastic but now you think: What in the world did I watch that?!

” I would say that I loved The Facts of Life when it first aired. I still do now but there’s definitely a lot more camp to it now because of the dated hairstyles, clothes and musical guests (Stacey Q, Michael Damian, El DeBarge, etc.)”

This week’s Artist’s Spotlight is on : Pinsploitation

1.Tell me a bit about your business:                                                                                               ” I was on Instagram and discovering all these great accounts when I stumbled on a picture of an enamel pin from the movie Tourist Trap. It’s one of my favorite movies so I got really excited and ordered it. That was my first pin from the guys at Ratknife. (They were my first. You never forget your first, right?) From there I discovered there was this whole culture of pin makers and collectors. I started searching for pins of my favorite films and characters and while I found a lot of great designs I felt like there were ones I wanted that nobody had made.
That’s when I started thinking about doing them myself. I figured that there had to be other collectors out there that were interested in the same stuff I was so, why not.”

2.  How did you come up with your name for your business?                                              “The name came to me pretty easy. What else would you call a pin company that celebrates exploitation and horror movies? Right?”

3.  What is your favorite pin you have made so far and why?                                              “I’ve done 6 pins since I began last August. I think my favorite one so far is my Mother’s Day inspired pin.

It’s the first one I tried using glow-in-the-dark enamel and I’m proud with how it turned out. Maybe that’s why I called it “Proud Mother”, but she really is very proud of her boys. HA! I also really liked the sticker I made to go with it. If you’ve seen the movie you get the joke. It was a design I had drawn early on but had waited to put out because I wasn’t sure if enough people would know the film. But I was happy that so many people did and were really into it!”

4.Where do you find your inspiration? “The design ideas that excite me most are the more obscure or “cult” films. Stuff from the late 70’s and early 80’s that I loved watching as a kid. Drive-In trash, Slashers, Art House Horror… Coming up with the backer cards for the pins is a lot of fun too.”

I know a lot of the pin community are younger but I think there is still enough interest in what I have to offer. And as long as a design sells well enough to pay for itself and allows me to do another one, then I’m happy. I get so much satisfaction out of feeling that I’m contributing to the horror community and getting to be creative at the same time. It’s done wonders for my mental health. Seriously!”

And I have to mention how cool it has been to connect with other pinmakers and artists. Everyone keeps putting out such awesome stuff and it’s inspiring. Even when another maker and I did the same design idea it was like, Oooooh noooo. But we weren’t mad. We both were successful with it and that’s great. I don’t feel competitive. I think I’ve got my own vision to share and so does everyone else. I dig the sense of community.
I got to work with Pixel Elixer on two upcoming pins they are putting out for their officially licensed Pit And The Pendulum (1991) collection. I’m excited to see how that turns out.

5. Is there anything exciting coming up for your business?                                                     “At the end of March I’ve got TWO new designs! Based on the movies Fade To Black and Curtains. I really want to do something not specifically horror and do a Divine pin and one based on one of my favorite Cult Queens Mary Woronov. She deserves a pin for sure!

If you like to contact Myrl her IG is @pinsploitation and also: 

Thank you for letting me interview you Myrl!

Until next time!