LAVA's 17th Sunday Salon July 31, 2011

LAVA's July wild weekend spans the Southland with unique cultural programs

WHAT: On Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31, members of LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) present a pair of eclectic cultural happenings – Esotouric's annual Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release spiritual L.A. bus and walking tour and LAVA's 17th monthly Sunday Salon featuring Brian Kaiser's history of artistic tile in Southern California and Maja D'Aoust and Paul Nugent in conversation on the history of Los Angeles as a center of offbeat spirituality.
COST: Maja's Mysteries tour costs $63, LAVA's Sunday Salon is always free
LOCATION: Both events happen at Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014.
MORE INFO: http://lavatransforms.org and the individual links below

LOS ANGELES- Have you heard about LAVA? The Los Angeles Visionaries Association is a creative consortium of artists, musicians, writers, storytellers and filmmakers who since February 2010 have come together on the last Sunday of the month for a free cultural lunch Salon at Clifton's Cafeteria, in addition to sharing their far-flung activities on a community calendar.

Created by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper—the busy married couple who lead historical bus tours under the Esotouric flag ("The Real Black Dahlia," "Raymond Chandler's L.A."), successfully campaigned to save the endangered 76 Balls, Charles Bukowski's house and L.A.'s Public Libraries, put the Downtown Art Walk into a non-profit, and most recently assembled a collective of the region's best independent tour guides at www.7DaysinLA.com -- LAVA 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.

And during the last weekend in July, the LAVA calendar shines with a pair of fascinating events reflecting the group's eclectic diversity, with something to delight and inspire anybody looking for a memorable outing. The events play out in this order...

1) The once-a-year Esotouric bus adventure "Maja's Mysteries" Rapture and Release," Saturday 7/30, 11am-3pm, $63, departs from Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014.
Info and additional links at http://lavatransforms.org/maja711

MAJA'S MYSTERIES is a guided excursion to some of the city's most fascinating spiritual sites hosted by Maja D'Aoust, lecturer and librarian at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz, in association with Kim Cooper and Richard Schave of Esotouric. Come join us on an Esotouric bus adventure into the hidden realms of Los Angeles spirituality, with stops at some of the most unique and compelling worship spaces in the Southland.

TOUR THEME: This tour explores the fundamental contradiction in the two primary paths to salvation: Grace or Karma. The concept of Grace sees salvation and the Messiah (rapture) as imminent and tangible. Karma is predicated on reincarnation, the cycle of many, many lives lived through selflessness and right action as the soul strives to achieve release. These two notions, while irreconcilable, both inspire real and profound relationships with God in Los Angeles, from the church basements where believers speak in tongues, or in brightly light congregation rooms praying over gigantic crystals. Join Maja as we explore tantric Vedic practices, the Pentecostal rapture, the channeled Venusian stylings of an alien entity and other fascinating paths to salvation.

TOUR LOCATIONS: The Aetherius Society. A center for cosmic consciousness and healing founded in 1955 by UFO contactee Dr. George King, where we will hear actual recordings of an extraterrestrial voice conveying significant messages. Krotona Apartments. A former Theosophical retreat founded in 1914, where we will have a rare opportunity to visit the central courtyard and view the Rosicrucian window of this now-private residence. Parsonage of Sister Aimee Semple McPherson. On the northern edge of Echo Park lake is the rock upon which Sister Aimee Semple McPherson built her Foursquare Church. One of Los Angeles’ most charismatic characters, Sister Aimee spread her technologically-inspired Pentecostal gospel from the Angelus Temple, while enjoying quiet moments in her adjoining Parsonage home. Recently restored, the Parsonage is now a museum of her life and work, which to this day contains to ring clear to millions of believers worldwide. The Vedanta Society of Southern California. Founded in 1930 to bring sacred Hindu philosophy to the West, where we will be given a presentation on the Society’s history and programming, and browse in its fine gift shop.

2) LAVA's monthly Sunday Salon, Sunday 7/31, 12-2pmpm, Free, Clifton's Cafeteria, 648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014.
Info and additional links at http://lavatransforms.org/salon711

On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton's Cafeteria for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. This month's Visionary presentations include:

Preservationist, tile historian and newly appointed LAVA Visionary BRIAN KAISER will give a talk on Artistic Tile in Southern California. The main body of the presentation is a slide tour of the house that Rufus Keeler built for himself in South Gate in 1924. Mr. Keeler was founder, plant manager, and sole ceramist of the Calco (1923-1932) and Malibu potteries (1926-1932). His house is tile from start to finish, and was made from Calco Tile, a pottery that preceded Malibu Tile. Meant to be a showcase for the use of clay products in home construction and decoration, the house still stands as a magnificent example of one of the finest ceramists in all of California during the 1920s and 1930s.

• LAVA Visionaries MAJA D'AOUST, Librarian at the Philosophical Research Society and host of the July 30 Esotouric bus adventure "Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release," and REV. PAUL NUGENT of The Aetherius Society will host a joint presentation / conversation on the history of Los Angeles as a magnetic spiritual center: a place where people of all faiths and backgrounds have come to seek enlightenment since the turn of the last century. Maja will introduce us to some of the major esoteric groups and thinkers that have made Los Angeles their home, revealing the shared aims beneath a seemingly disparate collection of seekers. These will include The Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), Manly P. Hall and his Philosophical Research Society and The Theosophy Society, to name a few. Then Paul will give a brief history of The Aetherius Society, the spiritual organization which was brought to Los Angeles by Yoga Master and extraterrestrial contactee Dr. George King in 1959, as part of his mission to help humanity raise itself from universal suffering and ignorance. Dr. King's initial communication with the Cosmic Master Aetherius occurred in 1954, spurring Dr. King on to found the Society in England the following year (he ran it until his death in 1997; Paul Nugent was a personal assistant to Dr. King and is a current Director of the organization's American headquarters). Part of the work of The Aetherius Society is predicated on Prayer, and the mental direction of positive energy towards the world's trouble spots in a manifestation of the concept that consciousness can impact objective reality. The presentation will provide an overview of the Southland's fascinating spiritual history and ongoing role in the development of new religious thought and action.

Interested Angelenos are encouraged to come out and be part of some or all of these LAVA events celebrating the city and encouraging connections.

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/publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker ALLISON ANDERS, writer/curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian/radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, puppeteer BOB BAKER, tile historian BRIAN KAISER, producer/promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, cultural events programmer CHRISTINA GALANTE, musician COUNT SMOKULA, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, writer/Libros Schmibros proprietor DAVID KIPEN, sculptor DONALD GIALANELLA, forensic scientist/educator DONALD JOHNSON, author/educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, artist ELENA MARY SIFF, documentarian ELIJAH DRENNER, conversation curator ERIC VOLLMER, social connector EVONNE HEYNING, musician/performance artist FEATHERBEARD, photographer GARY LEONARD, pop critic/outsider artist GENE SCULATTI, musician/artist GEORGE EARTH, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, theater director HOLLY WITHAM, musician/writer IAN WHITCOMB, food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, urban explorer (Ranger) JENNY PRICE, filmmaker JEREMY KASTEN, musician JIMI CABEZA DE VACA, social historian JOAN RENNER, writer/artist JOE OESTERLE, writer JOHN BUNTIN, filmmaker JON ALLOWAY, documentarian JOHN DULLAGHAN, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, songstress/prognosticator MADAME PAMITA, esoteric scholar MAJA D'AOUST, author/broadcaster MANNY PACHECO, performer McCRISTOL HARRIS, visual artist MELVIN HALE, journalist MICHAEL LINDER, photographic archivist MICHAEL RISNER, President of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes MIGUEL ANGEL CORZO, poet/dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, architectural historian NATHAN MARSAK, writer NEAL POLLOCK, theater director NICHOLAS HOSKING, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, writer /photographer /musician PAUL K, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, 3-D photography expert RAY 3D ZONE, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, artist/musician RICH POLYSORBATE 60, filmmaker/preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, ghost hunter SARAH TROOP, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, painter/gallerist SUSAN DOBAY, Warhol star and writer TERE TEREBA, sculptor TOM WALKER, musical entertainer THE UKULADY, and hat designer 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/salon711