Sam Bloch

Credit: Illustration by Fred Noland

Working Folks, Not the Rich, Fight Density Near USC's Expo Line

Sam Bloch
Like many homeowners in Los Angeles, Rocio Guerrero thinks there are too many people in her neighborhood. The housekeeper, 35, lives with her extended family on a three-residence lot on Walton Avenue. It's a flat, narrow block in the Exposition Park neighborhood, two blocks south of a new Expo Line......
Credit: Ted Soqui

Jackie Treehorn's House and Its Eccentric Owner

Sam Bloch
L.A. Weekly is celebrating The Big Lebowski's 15th anniversary with a massive cover story tribute! Check out our other Lebowski-themed stories. Not doing so would be very un-Dude. At one point during The Big Lebowski, our hero, the Dude, finds himself at a mysterious beach party thrown by pornographer Jackie......
Credit: PHOTO BY JIMMY GIEGERICH

Mayan Apocalypse Parties

Sam Bloch
Damian Lazarus isn't a new-age dude, but the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico is his spiritual home. He's a frequent visitor to Tulum, a bohemian beach town sprouted from the ruins of imperial Maya. On a recent trip there, he found himself in the throes of metaphysical revelation......
Left to right: Dede

The Do Lab Built a Massive SoCal EDM Community. Next Stop: Egypt

Sam Bloch
It's a hazy afternoon in early fall and the three brothers Flemming are working from home. In the living room of a converted Venice duplex, Jesse and Dede flip through invoices and stacks of library books written by radical Egyptologists. Out back, Josh paints bamboo panels with his girlfriend. For......
Credit: Kevin Scanlon

Li Fellers: The Lady Is a Sleuth

Sam Bloch
One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. She's made her name finding the facts. But Li Fellers will never know the what, where or why of her own birth. "My adopted mother, Li-Hwa, was a real con......
Credit: Courtesy of Mexican Summer

Peaking Lights Got Pregnant. That's When Their Musical Dreams Came True

Sam Bloch
It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis -- members of breakout psychedelic duo Peaking Lights -- are trying to mellow out Miko, their vivacious 10-month-old son. He's gnawing on an unopened furniture box from Ikea. "Dude," Coyes says. "You're being extrasilly today." It's a rare moment......
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Musical hotel fun house

Sam Bloch
On the final night of the Pacific Standard Time festival, experimental music collective Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Soundcalls (SASSAS) will create a museum called the Welcome Inn Time Machine. The rooms of a homely motel in Eagle Rock will be transformed into what SASSAS......
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Feminism via Twitter

Sam Bloch
To hear Suzanne Lacy talk about it, staging Three Weeks in May — her 1977 attempt to tackle issues of sexual violence in L.A. with visual art — was like running a grassroots political campaign. Small groups got together to discuss what couldn't be said in public. Demonstrations and community......
Andrea Fraser in her fake guided tour of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1989. Performance art? Yes.

What is Performance Art?

Sam Bloch
Are Lady Gaga and Mitt Romney performance artists? The mainstream press has said so, and there's not much to stop them. As an artistic practice, performance art is what happens when an event or action is framed for an audience. Which means it could be anything, really. So what distinguishes......