Ryan Ward

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Christmas in June

Ryan Ward
If you had but one standout moment in your career, you first of all would not be the White Stripes. But their colonization on Wednesday, June 20, of the recently retired Sunset Tower Records building, repainted in their token chromatic red-and-white glory for the Icky Thump L.A. record-release party, would......
(Photo by Kevin Scanlon)

Steve Aoki

Ryan Ward
From evening’s twilight to the wee hours of the morning, Steve Aoki, a.k.a. DJ Kid Millionaire, can be spotted engaging in fits of flailing assault on wax, seamlessly receiving embraces from every congratulatory scenester who wants a piece of his energy, and getting A-list celebrities to convulse in time to......
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Sexy Beast

Ryan Ward
Maturin necklace: Badger’s claw with porcupine and pheasant quills(PHOTOS BY SHAWN SMITH | STYLING BY KIMI )Jewelry doesn’t have to be a last-minute attempt to add a sparkle or jangle to your nocturnal attire, nor should it be a cold, predictable alloy that one out of every five at a......

Sexy Beast

Ryan Ward
Maturin necklace: Badger’s claw with porcupine and pheasant quills(PHOTOS BY SHAWN SMITH | STYLING BY KIMI )Jewelry doesn’t have to be a last-minute attempt to add a sparkle or jangle to your nocturnal attire, nor should it be a cold, predictable alloy that one out of every five at a......
Nineteen-eighty-slim (Photos by Ryan Ward)

Not a Gang to Bang

Ryan Ward
There are only a few things sexier than skinny jeans these days, save boy-cut panties and deep-V tees. You just can’t keep this fab version of a posterior tourniquet down. Target and H&M both deal them, and it’s a given that Midwestern Hot Topic addicts flaunt them. Fortunately, in L.A.,......

One Love

Ryan Ward
Imagine a cruise line, headed by Grace Jones, carrying around a bunch of rich old Italian ladies. That’s the back story designer Lisa Katnic created to explain her line of one-piece swimsuits. She was fueled by a “fetish for the disco and club-kid culture” to start Katnic Swimwear, suits that......
Gil Mantera as X-Man ''Lycra'': He has the power to shine. (Photos by Ryan Ward)

Live the (Party) Dream

Ryan Ward
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream at Spaceland, May 30 Gil Mantera strolls around Spaceland before the show, nonchalantly catching the eye of most every girl, demurely smiling. Such a gentleman. Next thing you know, red spandex snaps, Navajo necklaces are clasped, beats start bouncing, and Gil appears onstage — having undergone......
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Concerts of the Year

Ryan Ward
The Mentones at Club Tropical, March 3 These guys are my homeys, and they are the shit — angular modjazz surgically implanted into James Cotton’s brain as he drives a 1959 Olds Rocket 88 into an apocalyptic SoCal landscape. Drummer Joe Berardi crushed giant tin cans like a Ph.D.; Bill......