Another Dr. Oc2pus vs Mimusa set on KUCI! Fill Your VOID

Me and Zo just got back from an incredible trip to Honolulu, Hawaii! This was a special one for me because I’ve never been there and have always dreamt about visiting. We got to rock a few shows, swim with the fishes and eat with the locals! Huge thanks to the homie Bone and his girl Rose for their hospitality! Also Shoutout to ESSA, Professor Rod, the University of Hawaii, Prototype, Mason Rose, Johnny Cupcakes, DJ Packo, and all the fans out in Hawaii! This was an amazing experience and i’ll never forget it! Mahalo!

-DFD

 

 
Every Who down in Whosville, likes to party a lot,
But the Grinch from Los Angeles, only likes to smoke pot.
His green, grumpy demeanor just can’t stand the bass
But if you like that kind of music, you must be from space.
 
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
May have been that his ears were two sizes too small.
 
The Who’s down in Whosville gathered joyfully in glee,
They all wore their holiday best and met at Crosby.
The Who’s screamed at the Grinch, “Put down that marijuan-ica!”
But it doesn’t quite matter, because the Grinch stole ElecTRONica.
 

TV Girl stopped by to perform a few of their exciting genre defying indie pop songs and talk about their recent migration to LA from San Diego, their broad influences, and being best friends with Fred Durst.

On LA public transportation…

I got a ticket on the subway trying to go with an expired tab card.  They have a little thing that reads them now so don’t try it.

On samples…

The way that we normally write songs incorporates sampling so it’s sort of a challenge to see what kind of balance between live instrumentation and sampling we would have when we play live.  It would be boring to have two people play a sampler so we kind of do a rock band thing but we kept the sampler so it would be kind of hip hoppy.

On San Diego bands…

Since LA is so close once you have an opportunity to do it bigger it’s not that hard to move.  So a lot of the good bands just kind of move out of there which is a shame, but you can’t blame them really.

On their genre…

Crunk-chill-rap-wave-rock-limp-bizkit… [Note From the Editor:  They sound nothing like Limp Bizkit]

My dad gave me a tape of Dinosaur Jr.‘s Green Mind when I was 12 and they’ve been one of my favorite bands ever since.  Their classic records You’re Living All Over Me and Bug both hold special places in my heart so it was a bucket list item checked off when I saw them perform Bug in it’s entirety last night at the Music Box.

-Lee

The Pepsi Refresh Project is this awesome contest that allows non-profit organizations like Knockstudy to compete to win funds for their programming. In order for us make this happen, we need to gather as many votes as possible before the end of the month and hopefully qualify to be a finalist. Everyone can vote at least once a day, so please bookmark this site and hit it up daily. What all this means is more equipment, more workshops, more guest speakers and more programs for youth in LA to learn, explore and be creative through the arts! Every vote counts and we can definitely use all the help we can get! So spread the word and get your vote on!

1.) Go to Pepsi Refresh
2.) Click ‘Vote for this Idea”
3.) Choose to register through Facebook or create a separate Pepsi Account.
4.) Click “Vote for this idea” to make sure your vote went through
5.) Remember, you can vote multiple times, at a limit of 3 x per day by either clicking the link,  texting 110411 to the number 73774 (P-E-P-S-I on the keypad) or signing in with your email at Pepsi.
 

For the semester Intuition is going to teach a writing workshop. Our Knockstudy program is hosted at the Bresse youth center which is where Dumbfoundead used to go as a teen.

Stones Throw artist Vex Ruffin performing ‘Sky Fall’ live in studio.

-Grady

Bua returns with the release of his new book, The Legends of Hip Hop, featuring the key pioneers of hip hop during his time as a practitioner of the elements. Aside from his incredible work, I was interested in hearing  about his perspectives on life and art and how it has influenced his pieces throughout the years. He discusses the hustle, the struggle and the much needed attitude that has allowed him to breakthrough as a leader in creating compelling visuals to reflect his distorted reality. Digging through Bua’s intellect, I was enlightened by what he had to share with our audience and encourage you to check out his work, both new and old. Bua can be found at his next event on Monday, Dec 12th at the LACMA, along side DMC himself from Run DMC. Check out more info at www.justinbua.com.

On defining his style…

The architecture and the characters are a little bit more of a heightened reality, but it’s a nice place to be. Maybe you go there in a dream state, and that’s basically where I want to take you in my painting.

On how he developed his style…

It was the infusion of both the classical world of my home surroundings, my apartment, and that infusion in the intersection of graffiti that kind of gave a birth to my work-a classical kind of graffiti style.

On his transition from NY to LA…

For me, when I was in New York, I didn’t see that I was on a treadmill until I stepped off. That was LA for me. And I was like, “Whoa, the world has really slowed down.”

On advice for aspiring artists…

Perseverance is really the best thing. You have to keep knocking on the door. You really just have to try and try and try and believe in yourself because no ones gonna believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself.

Last night I attended a private event at the historic Farmers and Merchants Bank on Main St. The gala celebrated the premiere of Hyundai’s ReGeneration documentary and was highlighted by the guest panel which included Skrillex, Erykah Badu, DJ Premier, The Crystal Method and the documentary’s director Amir Bar-Lev.

The Hyundai’s REMIX LAB is a 5 city, cross genre, multimedia event supporting Hyundai’s launch of their new Veloster. The ReGeneration project couples some of today’s top DJs and electronic artists with other major artists representing five other music genres. The five original tracks created by the collaborating artists were then given out for free by Hyundai.

Mark Ronson reinterprets jazz. The Crystal Method flip R&B.

DJ Premier = Classical

Skrillex = Rock

Erykah Badu spinning…

-Grady