LAVA's 13th Sunday Salon March 27, 2011

LAVA's free pre-April Fools Salon features historic Cacophony Society pranks and record industry hijinx

WHAT: On Sunday, March 27, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the monthly Sunday Salon gathering upstairs at Clifton's Cafeteria at 648 South Broadway (noon-2pm)
SALON INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/salon311

LOS ANGELES- Launched last February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and founding Director and Curator of the Downtown Art Walk non-profit--the creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is fast establishing itself as one of the city's most intriguing arts collectives, with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of notable Visionary contributors.

LAVA's Sunday Salon has become one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration—not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking. The Sunday Salon returns to Clifton's Cafeteria on Sunday, March 27 from noon-2pm, and all are welcome to dine together and socialize, or attend compelling presentations by LAVA Visionaries on the April Fools Day-inspired theme of PRANKS AND TOMFOOLERY.

PRESENTERS AT THE MARCH 27 SALON (all appearing between 12-2pm, with exact times/schedules to be announced at the event)

1) LAVA Visionary JON ALLOWAY talks about and previews his new documentary "Into the Zone - The Story of the Cacophony Society," as recently seen at MOMA as part of the Juxtapoz "All the Wrong Art" show. This hilarious and exciting Dada-documentary follows the evolution of the prankish group from its origins in the San Francisco Suicide Club through the creation of the Burning Man Festival, the irreverent Los Angeles Cacophony Society and beyond. This is the history of a significant American underground cultural movement, featuring astonishing footage never before seen by normal people. The Cacophony Society is a national network of creative provocateurs serving as prototype for Chuck Palahniuk’s "Fight Club." Throughout the 1990s, the Society's notorious Los Angeles lodge orchestrated hundreds of darkly absurdist culture-jamming spectacles ranging from the detonation of a pyro-charged 80-foot replica of Disney’s It’s a Small World ride to a Christmas face-off between a two-hundred-strong mob of Santas and a riot squad. The credo of the Cacophony Society is "You May Already be a Member!" For more on Jon Alloway's film, visit http://www.intothezonemovie.com/

2) LAVA Visionary "REVEREND" AL RIDENOUR, the former "Grand Instigator" of the Los Angeles Lodge of the Cacophony Society, will be sharing insights into his years coordinating Cacophonist activities. Al will also be talking about his current project, The Art of Bleeding, a performance collective that gathers together a number of former LA Cacophonists for absurdist medically-themed stage shows and events. The Art of Bleeding produces ego-destabilizing programs on safety and medical education for both live and video presentation. Often staged from an actual ambulance, their performances utilize a perturbing mix of cartoonish costumes, puppets, vintage educational films, animation, and thinly veiled medical fetishism to create a sort of “paramedical funhouse” in which the groping ego may ultimately experience TRUE SAFETY CONSCIOUSNESS. For more on The Art of Bleeding, visit http://www.artofbleeding.com and for more on the Cacophony Society, visit http://la.cacophony.org

3) From his music-biz research archives, LAVA Visionary GENE SCULATTI presents "Tales from the Flipside," a recounting of some of the more colorful and outrageous scams, tricks and stunts used by promotion men to get their records played. Hear some of what it took to land some of your favorite artists on the charts. Featured: the Peter, Paul & Mary riots, the consequences of being the fake Duke of Earl, and the saga of the singing cop Saverio Saridis.

ABOUT PREVIOUS LAVA SALONS: In March 2010, the new LAVA community came together in the first monthly Sunday Salon for the debut exhibition of Visionary GENE SCULATTI's outsider art scroll drawings of imaginary cities, a smash hit for the nearly 100 cultural explorers in attendance, and now under development as a documentary film. And in May, vintage cosmetics packaging collector JOAN RENNER captivated the crowd with a discussion of the social and cultural context of 20th century cosmetics, illustrated with a display of exquisite Art Deco and Art Nouveau powder boxes from her collection. For Halloween, the GHOST HUNTERS OF URBAN L.A. debuted their supernatural internet time capsule project, "Weird Hollywood" author JOE OESTERLE shared weird tales and Skid Row misfortune teller Mesmerelda (aka avant garde sonstress NORA KEYES) sang of downtown misery. In December, THE UKULADY sang while supervising an interactive crafting workshop, HARVEY SID FISHER serenaded each astrological sign in attendance, and strange vintage board games were played. Each Salon is very different, but always free, unpretentious, and thought-provoking.

Photos and video from some recent Salons are here: http://lavatransforms.org/hauntsandhorrors
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623729484726/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157624174080520/

ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring it in their work. Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM COOPER -- proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and the 1947project time travel blog series (including On Bunker Hill and In SRO Land) -- LAVA brings together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers. The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, artist and Eastside historian AL GUERRERO, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, avant garde fashion maven A. LAURA BRODY, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker and festival promoter ALLISON ANDERS, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 826LA events manager CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, green sculptor DONALD GIALANELLA, forensic scientist and educator DONALD JOHNSON, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, visual artist ELENA MARY SIFF, documentarian and exploitation film historian ELIJAH DRENNER, conversation curator ERIC VOLLMER, social connector EVONNE HEYNING, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD, photographer GARY LEONARD, pop critic and outsider artist GENE SCULATTI, musician and artist GEORGE EARTH, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, theater director HOLLY WITHAM, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, urban explorer (Ranger) Jenny Price, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, musician and composer of silent film scores JIMI CABEZA DE VACA, social historian JOAN RENNER, writer and artist JOE OESTERLE, journalist and author JOHN BUNTIN, filmmaker JON ALLOWAY, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, songstress and prognosticator MADAME PAMITA, esoteric scholar and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, author and broadcaster MANNY PACHECO, performer McCRISTOL HARRIS, journalist and internet radio pioneer MICHAEL LINDER, photographic archivist MICHAEL RISNER, President of the new LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes MIGUEL ANGEL CORZO, poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, , theater director NICHOLAS HOSKING, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, 3-D photography expert RAY 3D ZONE, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, Boyle Heights ghost hunter SARAH TROOP, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, painter/gallerist SUSAN DOBAY, Warhol star and writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, musical entertainer THE UKULADY, and hat designer and multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON.

Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at http://lavatransforms.org/apply

To learn more about LAVA, please visit http://www.lavatransforms.org

Official Website: http://www.lavatransforms.org/salon311