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{mosimage}Forget about a galaxy far, far away: The Force is in Echo Park. Yeah, the recent slew of Star Wars–licensed products has been downright ridiculous (Darth Vader Cheetos? What next? Yoda hawking Viagra?). But the shiny stuff at Echo Park jewelry boutique HanCholorocks our world. The store’s a hub for first-Saturday-of-the-month block-party art events along with adjoining stores including deconstructo-diva clothiers ShowPony.(And if you think those shop names are good, they’re all located across the street from filling station MagicGas.)Local artist AlbertReyesexhibited some intriguing “pop-culture regurgitations,” as he called ’em (his portrait of Ronald McDonald with two topless babes won raves) at Han Cholo, but we couldn’t stop eyeballin’ the badass bling, which included shiny gold and silver ghettoblaster and turntable pendants, and “chewy” and “cylon” rings, currently sported in a buncha mags by the likes of GwenStefaniand SnoopDogg.Cholo, a.k.a. BrandonSchoolhouse,also throws a Saturday-night party at Los Feliz eatery Vida— now under new ownership, and the site of some raging new DJ nights all week. Though there was plenty happening in the E.P., the promise of a new club from StephenHauptheurof Radiofame lured us to Basque(formerly Deep) at Hollywood and Vine. Unfortunately, the spot was double-booked with the promoters of the SpiderClub,which made for chaos at the door, and a bizarre cocktail of disparate crews inside: Hauptheur’s cute indie-rock contingent and mall-garbed weekend warriors — which (no big surprise) don’t mix, no matter how hard ya shake ’em. Still, shaking is exactly what we ended up doing when we headed across the street and caught Jurassic5/Ozomatliscratcher CutChemistwhipping StarShoesinto a funkin’ frenzy. The next day, a turntable terror of an entirely different sort, Peaches,packed TheStandardDowntownat SteveAokiand FrankieChan’safternoon pool party, SundayFunday.The sex-beat queen, who also spun a less-publicized set at LaPollaLoca(Jeppe from JuniorSenior’sgayish Thursday grind at LittlePedro’s),opened her Standard set with “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” It was surely meant as homage to Bauhausbassist DavidJ,on the scene along with rockers MattSimsand JustinWarfield;promoter JasonSwartz;and odd celeb buddies of the week: Pinkand WilmerValderrama.Lotsa booty beats, disco and rock & roll followed, all of which pleased sunning scenesters and kept the tiny outdoor dance floor bouncing. Though she obviously has a follicle fixation (she even passed out a bunch of photocopied stickers of PhilSpector’srecent courtroom ’fro), Peaches looked smooth and sexy herself in white short-shorts and silver thigh-high boots. Guess the notoriously fuzzy femme finally discovered TheNair.We also bumped into AlexisArquette,who was attempting to film scenes for a new reality series on A&Ebefore Standard security abruptly stepped in. Yeah, we know what you’re thinking: another reality show? This one does sound interesting, though: It’s gonna chronicle the actor’s soon-to-be-permanent transformation from he to she. That’s right, Arquette — who can currently be seen in TheLordsofDogtown— tells us the sex-change operation will happen, and everyone, including her famous family, is all for it. Oh, and the name they’re kicking around for the show? AlexisAre-Cut.Ouch!
