Joel Chen’s hideaway showroom on Highland Avenue has been appropriated for a few weeks by MOCA and recast as the Chateau Marmont by James Franco and a gang of artists for their show, Rebel. Bennett Stein, aka The Good4Nothing Connoisseur, went to the opening and found himself seduced by the exhibit.

Question: are you obsessed? Ever been obsessed by anything? I mean obsessed by anything cool… with lasting mystery and shine to it? Ok, ever been obsessed by James Dean? No? Too level-headed for that? I see, you’re above narcissism? Well, you should try on a little obsession some time if you have any curiosity in finding out who you are. Time spent worshipping idols is time spent finding one’s true self. Check in with any shrink or medicine man on that score. So Franco, in shapeshifting into a 15-year-old juvie, madly drooling over James Dean’s Rebel Without A Cause persona, and taking a squad of artists along for the joy ride has, in my humble opinion, done a jazz musician move: it’s called taking a theme, stripping it down and riffing on it, coming up with variations on that theme, and finding out where it’s at.

James Dean, before we confuse him with pin-up hunk Fabio, or Fabian, the cheesewad 50s crooner, ain’t just another 50s doo-wop pretty boy. No he’s the thinking man’s hepcat, and bona fide archetype of punk. Dean, hugely famous like the later punk Sid Vicious, who died at 22,  died age 24;  and, together with Marlon Brando in the early 50s, formed a 2-headed monster method actor demolition squad. They torched the old ways of doing things, swapping out the “representational school” of acting for the presentational, which was about revealing truth, honest emotions, raw sexuality. Early-50s actors feared and hated working with these two because they’d improvise their lines in the mode of their jazz player idols working at the time, Yardbird, Monk, Miles and Coltrane. Parents lived in terror of the bad influence rock ‘n’ roll, called race music at the time, was having on their sons and daughters. Dean and Brando swung the wrecking ball in “The Wild One” and “Rebel Without A Cause” respectively, and the world ended. Enter Kerouac, Burroughs, Berry, Diddley, Holly, the ‘Link Wray Rumble’ and Elvis, who in his first years was actually a hipster rebel enfant terrible, too. Then Dylan, Beatles, Stones, etc. Well Brando and Dean were on the scene first, bros and sisses, and lit the match that started the counterculture on fire.

Admittedly, I hit the launch of Renaissance guy, James Franco’s mixed-media art jam at Joel Chen’s garage-y, greaser-heavenly exhibition space opening night expecting to hate it. I dreaded something as weak as Adam Levine of Maroon 5 name-checking Jagger in ‘Moves Like Jagger’. But instead I was sling shot into an extreme altered state. Talk about taking your hand off the chicken switch, this art mash-up unleashes ones inner snot-nosed kid. Or punk rocker, if you will, ready to run wild in the streets.

Franco and his band of swashbuckling artistes (including Ed Ruscha, shown above) have slung an evil band of merry pranksters’ conceptual move: They turn Dean’s myth and the flick, “Rebel Without A Cause,” into a living theme from which to punk art riff off on, you know, the only stuff we actually obsess over every waking second of our short little lives—fame, beauty, sex, cars, coolness, death, immortality. It should be stressed that Dean influenced the way kids spoke, wore their hair, dressed. (Exhibit A: the red windbreaker), walked, and even sat in a chair (Exhibit B: “the Dean slouch” — the right way, the zen way to lean on a telephone pole or against a wall, or sit in a chair or upon a couch, half spilling out of it, rotating in it to upside down–especially if a parent or cop came in the room).

If you’re a geek or nerd who gets along with your parents maybe you better skip this show. You’ll find it offensive. On the other hand, if you’ve gone through life feeling like a freak, an alien or an outcast, and could use a walk on the wild side, get down to see “Rebel” fast as you can, Jack! You, too, Jane 6-Pack.

Because in contradiction to sage and mature art critical experts, some of whom I toured the galleries with and consider to be my buds, it could, if not save your soul, lay a fresh perspective on you for a second there. Some say it’s derivative, immature, gimmicky–Exhibit A of the troubling convergence between celebrity and art.  Franco clearly though made the choice to open himself up to an apocalypse of criticism by strutting the fool’s bravado of a real artist who is ready to risk it all and knows damn well in this jaded age that people will dismiss and insult what he does. Lord knows, I tried to.

But personally, I got re-animated. I was transformed back into my old juvenile delinquent self, ready to put a tack on teacher’s chair, raid my mom’s go pills, shoplift, light a cherry-bomb and chuck it in a mailbox. So it’s like this…

You walk in, first thing you see is Franco’s 3-D collage, “Bungalo 2,” basically the Chateau Marmont bungalo suite where John Belushi shot up a speed ball and rode a Harley to the juke joint in the sky, early 80s, it’s filled with boy and girl inflato dolls, you and me in effigy basically, who after a zoom down the fast lane, are now used up, prematurely aged, discarded. A flash of prophecy we’d rather not dwell upon.

Next you walk into a wood slat cave with a huge screen running a trippy slo mo film called “CAPUT” by Harmony Korine. It’s a creepy but pulse-quickening stylized variation on the gang-on-gang street fight meme, but with masked naked ladies, Franco leading one gang, Dean in effigy leading the other.

Next you find yourself looking at Terry Richardson’s “James Franco In Drag” photo series, so lurid and troubling you just gotta shout, “Rebel, rebel, your face is a mess!” Franco’s a hot dude, but as a woman? Deeply disturbing!  Man, I got the itch to try on women’s clothes and underthings. I felt sick and dirty looking at that tramp Franco in bright red lipstick. Awash in deviant thoughts, I had to get out of there fast.

And after that, Douglas Gordon’s “Self Portrait Of You + Me and Me +, etc,” variations on a famous Dean photo partly charred, blown up, or still on fire. All printed on mirrors so your face merges with the Deanster. This one turns you into James Dean, in your mind. Next, Gordon’s film of a guy in his Fruit Of The Loom loin cloth writing on himself in blood red magic marker, all shot from sweeping low to the ground angles. This is projected onto 3 huge screens in a dark room. Again, you have no choice–now your soul becomes Dean’s soul as guilt-ridden, sin-infused Christ as self-mutilator as gateway to—oh, never mind.

Next, a sweetly nightmarish Japanese X-rated animation style film, “El Gato” by Galen Pehrson, voiced with scuzzy creepy menace by Franco, actress Jena Malone (of “Donnie Darko” and “Into The Wild” fame) and freak folker extraordinaire Devendra Banhart. This one fills you with fascination and a longing for the forbidden, you know, a too late to turn back now kind of surrender. You’ll want to stay far away from this piece. Unless you have exquisite self control. This cartoonized, R. Crumbisized retell of the drag race off the cliff scene between Buzz and Jim in “Rebel Without A Cause” as played by luminous horn dogs: a duck, a pit bull (see photo at tippy top), lots of very bad kitties in 2 speeding 50s cars, hurtling toward the cliffs of doom (or climax, if you will)—as they are in various states of orgiastic frenzy—is a meditation on sex and death, or the ultimate kick bang, whatever.

Somebody, call the fuzz, man. The cops should shut this joint–I mean this exhibition–down, round everybody up, take you downtown for questioning. It’ll corrupt our youth. It’ll make you fall off the wagon and go native, off on a Rimbaud-esque “make a monster of yourself” journey of self-discovery. You will be tempted by thoughts of ecstasy and liberation, you’ll be a nihilist for half an hour, minimum. You’ll re-examine your life. People will spread outrageous lies about you. You’ll be ruined, a shell of your former phony self, and maybe just get to rock that second chance F. Scott and his ilk say we Yankee doodles all got coming to us. And for that, Mr. Franco and your band of deviant artists, we say thanks for the memories, the opportunity and the head trip.

Rebel is on show through June 23 at 941 North Highland Avenue, LA, CA 90038.

Good4Nothing Connoisseur is an alias for Bennett Stein, who is writing scripts and novels about beautiful freaks and legends of the 1950s, and views himself as a forensic archeologist of the origins of rock and roll culture. He’s made 3 pilgrimages to Dean’s grave in Fairmount, Indiana and he strongly recommends, if you haven’t already done so, that you rent and watch “Rebel Without A Cause” at your earliest possible convenience–or conduct a seance or something.

What could be better than lounging by the pool at Edward Fickett’s classic mid-fifties Hollywood Riviera, listening to two of LA’s wittiest design connoisseurs discuss a topic (with yours truly) that intoxicated many of us raised in colder climes: LA’s Pool Culture? Well, that’s what is in store next Tuesday, May 22nd, when the City of West Hollywood hosts its  2012 Historic Preservation Celebration, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m with guest speakers Jim Heimann from Taschen Books, and Chris Nichols from Los Angeles magazine.

The Hollywood Riviera is at 1400 N. Hayworth Avenue in West Hollywood. Admission is free. For more information, call (323) 848-6393 or visit www.weho.org  And for more on West Coast pool culture, listen to this DnA.

On today’s DnA, Thomas Aujero Small talked about the upcoming production of Don Giovanni (with sets by Frank Gehry, costumes by Rodarte, the subject of this DnA). We taped our conversation in his back yard at his home in Culver City, while awaiting the start of a performance by players from The Nimbus Ensemble (Garik Terzian plays cello in photo, right, by Jean-Claude Demirdjian). They were playing in his home which was purpose-designed for music by architect Whitney Sander (see interior, below right, in photo by Julie Salestrom). Small personifies a growing trend that is revitalizing classical music and opera: performance in offbeat locations away from the concert hall or opera house. Small, a correspondent for The Classical Music Network, writes here about where you can find some music in intriguing spaces.

Excellent music in extraordinary architectural spaces, particularly chamber music, is all the rage in Los Angeles. We have entered a new golden age. Music in a mash-up of traditions: classical, avant-garde, world music…New music and old on the same program, presented in unusual venues, performed by incredibly versatile musicians who can play in many styles. Regardless of budget challenges and questions about the popularity and relevancy of classical music, there seem to be more offerings than ever. It is hard to judge the size of the audience for this music; there are so many presentations here in LA that it is impossible to take in even a fraction of the concerts. Although many groups operate on a shoestring, some are clearly flourishing, including the Ojai Festival and Jacaranda Music in Santa Monica, as well as the venerable and ultramodern LA Philharmonic.

This new golden age of music spans the world, from Brooklyn to Scandinavia to Santa Monica. I can only describe a small cross section of the musical/architectural treasure here in Southern California. In many communities on almost any weekend you can hear good chamber music in a church sanctuary, an industrial loft space or the ballroom of a venerable mansion.

The series Chamber Music in Historic Sites has been presenting music in astonishing architecture for decades, and their programs are now more vibrant and vigorous than ever. They invite many of the best chamber music ensembles and soloists from around the world to perform in unexpected spaces, both aged and modern all across the breadth of greater Los Angeles.

The Ojai Festival is the spry grandfather of international musical excellence. Its history is a portrait of musical composition and virtuosity throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Ojai has always drawn the architectural community and European music critics, with its mix of newborn and classical music, played by some of the world’s best performers. Artistic Director Thomas Morris previously ran both the Boston and Cleveland Symphonies. This year’s music Director is the acclaimed Norwegian pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes. This year’s program opens with the Alaskan composer, John Luther Adams’ piece Inuksuit, performed by an ensemble scattered across the wooded expanse of Libby Park. Other concerts take place in the newly re-designed outdoor amphitheater and in spaces throughout the rural community of Ojai.

Musique, the conductor Rachael Worby’s new Pasadena-based group, has presented chamber music in an antique letterpress studio, and orchestral and popular music with the renowned diva Jessye Norman in the outdoor quad at Cal Tech. Santa Monica’s Jacaranda Music often performs in the acoustically excellent First Pres Church, and will be presenting five pianists in a private Westside garden and staging a festival of John Cage’s music in various spaces across Santa Monica, including the Women’s Club where Cage himself performed. Composer Jane Brockman’s series Music and Conversation performs at the Gam Arts Center- a special effects lighting studio housed in an AIA award winning structure on Pico Blvd.

The musical event with the most heat right now is the Hyper-opera Crescent City. Yuval Sharon, a young veteran of the New York City Opera, directs the show, which is produced by the new LA opera company, The Industry. The production is staged in a huge warehouse-like space in Atwater Village. The creative team includes Cal Arts composer Ann Le Baron, poet Douglas Kearny and six visual artists. This urban post-Katrina story takes place in a desolated jazz- and voodoo-inflected New Orleans, with the action moving across six diverse stage sets, each designed by one of the artists. The audience can move with the action, or can observe from their seats. Crescent City runs through May 27, and the reviews have already been spectacular. See a glowing review of Crescent City by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times, here.

Finally, the concerts that take place at our home, Residence for a Briard (named after our French sheep dog), are typically sponsored by one of the manyLos Angeles performing arts groups or foundations. The Nimbus Ensemble hosted our most recent event. Several other groups, including Jacaranda Music, the Calder Quartet, and Chamber Music in Historic Sites, have also held events here. These groups usually handle the invitations. The Architectural Foundation of Los Angeles has also been involved with many of these events, which usually take place three or four times a year. Inquiring through the Architectural Foundation at AFLA.US would be a great way for DNA listeners to learn about and attend one of our future performances.  (Shown, in photo left by Julie Salestrom, the writer’s daughter, Lyra, invited to conduct following a performance by The Nimbus Ensemble)  

Are You a Designer? A Builder? An Architect? A Visionary?

Sonic Trace Wants Your Ideas

Sonic Trace? It is a new media project and radio series, a direct result of KCRW’s Independent Producer Project, bringing you stories that explore the three age-old questions about community and immigration — ¿Por qué te fuiste? ¿Por qué te quedaste? ¿Por qué regresaste?

Why do people leave? Why do others stay? And, what makes people go back (in either direction)?

Sonic Trace will explore how Koreatown turned Korexico; it will jump onto food truck routes–mic in hand–across LA’s urban sprawl; and bring you stories from inside churches where Canjobal (Guatemala) meets Zapotec (Mexico) in the heart of South Central.

To collect these stories, we need to build a sound booth. So, we are launching a design competition and hope to receive ideas from designers, architects and visionaries like you.

SHOWING YOU, NOT TELLING YOU:

Save us from this

Or this

Build us something more like this

Have a better idea? Pitch it to us!

SOME MORE DETAILS

WHAT IS A SOUND BOOTH?
A structure that provides isolation from outside sound. A space where conversation can happen amidst the urban chaos. A comfortable space that isolates sound for good recording, but also gives the listener a sense of place.

WHY DOES SONIC TRACE NEED A SOUND BOOTH?
Sonic Trace will be taking this booth all over the city — to churches, food fairs and schools. To rock, jazz and cumbia concerts. We will be at the park, at the coffee shop and hanging at the tamale hot spots. We’ll be setting up and closing shop alongside food trucks and observing public transportation from bus stops and corner shops. You get the idea?

These places will be noisy and hectic. So we’ll need a space of intimacy, reflection and “border-less-ness” for broadcast quality story-telling. Think Story Corps with a KCRW edge, an angelino accent and a tale that starts or ends in far-off land.

WHAT IT NEEDS TO BE

• Portable, moveable, and light. (Consider a sound booth on wheels?)
• It should be easily constructed and de-constructed on-site.
• We need to be able to tie it to the roof of our VW wagoneer or attach it to a trolley that we can pull with our car.
• It should comfortably fit two to three people sitting down.
• Like a living room on wheels — a space to relax and reflect in.
• If I can set the mobile boot up at a concert, and have an intimate interview, it’s a good design.

WHAT IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE

• Technical. You are not responsible for the audio equipment, just the structure.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

• Anyone who can design, and build, on a tight deadline.

MATERIALS?

• Pitch us your proposed materials. Feel free to experiment.

BUDGET

• We have a small budget (approx $5000), but will launch a Sonic Trace/KCRW kickstarter campaign if your design and materials are over our budget.

WHAT WE GIVE YOU IF YOUR DESIGN IS CHOSEN

• Your design will be seen and documented in dozens of places around the city.
• Your vision will be a template for other public media projects across the country.
• The story of the sound booth will be documented through Sonic Trace and KCRW (on-air, web, blogs, facebook, twitter)
• KCRW will promote you or your firm on its web site.

 THE PROCESS

• Send your proposals (and questions) to anayansi@kcrw.org
• Proposal submission deadline is Friday, June 8
• Proposals will be judged on aesthetics, mobile design and innovation by a jury that includes Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, Eric Pearse Chavez, Frances Anderton and other KCRW hosts, producers and engineers.
• With the support of Sonic Trace/KCRW, the winner will have one month to build the mobile sound booth.

HERE AN EXTENDED INTERVIEW ABOUT THE CHALLENGE, HERE.

AND STAY TUNED…

WHO ARE SONIC TRACE?

Anayansi Diaz-Cortes is an independent producer and reporter for public radio. Her documentaries have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, WBEZ’s This American Life and KCRW’s Unfictional.  Her career in radio began at Radio Diaries, a regular feature of NPR’s All Things Considered (listen to her piece, Mexico ’68: A Movement, A Massacre and the 40-Year Search for the Truth). Her work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus award.

Eric Pearse Chavez is a journalist and radio producer from Mexico City, currently living in Los Angeles.

It is so easy to spend hours peering through virtual windows onto design in blogs and web sites. So why not get out of your office chair and take a walk this week around the “La Cienega Design Quarter?” Shops and showrooms, located around the intersection of La Cienega and Melrose,  will host the now annual Legends of Design, a three-day smorgasbord of events, exhibits and panels about art, fashion and design whose theme this year is design inspired by travel.

In addition to booksignings by the likes of Muriel Brandolini (The World of Muriel Brandolini: Interiors) and Maryam Montague (Marrakesh By Design), talks and panels on such topics as “Secrets of a Master Upholsterer” to “Trunk Show and High Tea, Bollywood Style,” as well as design inspired by Morocco, England and Cuba, you can also take a wander past actual storefront windows, created with travel in mind by a sparking list of designers. Shown left, “Paris,” at Compas,  by Joan Behnke; right, India is the theme at Dragonette, by Alissa Sutton.