Black Cracker Bastille

It's happening now!

Wyatt Doyle has just read the first excerpt from his novella Stop Requested, and Josh Alan Friedman is in the middle of reading from Black Cracker, his autobiographical recollection of surviving a lynching while growing up as the only white kid at the last segregated school in New York.

After Josh, Los Angeles legend Chris D. will be reading from his collection of fictional truths and factual lies, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die.

This is the New Texture Tour, which is the key-note performance for the second celebration of The July Exhibitions. We could call it a soft opening, but there's nothing soft about this bunch!
Their first three books will debut at in-person events across Los Angeles this week. The three aforementioned authors will be at all events, with special guest appearances at many venues. You can get your books signed here or call in an order to have them personalized and sent to you, but time is running out...

I'm happy to say that I will be among the guests at Saturday's Reading series at The Echo this Saturday at 6 PM. So come on down and listen to the first ever public reading from "The Panik Diaries."

In just a little while, Josh will be providing a set of atomic acoustic guitar, and Chris D. is rumored to be joining in musically, so whatever you're doing, stop, and get over here. The New & Improved La Luz de Jesus Gallery is fast becoming the location of legendary, must-be-here events, and this is definitely one of them.

The carnival before the storm...

Congratulations to Fiddle Tim, whose entire debut exhibition Scumfuck, was completely SOLD OUT –and also made it into the Huffington Post!

There was a spectacular turnout for last night's opening reception, and the gallery line was ringing off the hook with long distance phone calls from patrons on the east coast and Europe maintaining late hours to secure their purchases once news of this show hit the wire.

Lauren Gardiner is also on the verge of a complete sell out, with only one painting from her exhibition, Unfit Saints, unsold as of this writing. This would be her second consecutive sold out show after last year's Royalty Before Surgery, and I'll be surprised if it's not off the market by the time the first bottle rockets whistle skyward tomorrow."St. Agatha: Patron Saint of Bigfoot" is actually quite large by Lauren's standards, but still only measures 8.25" x 9.5"
(with doors opened).

Damian Fulton seemed to be holding court with a constant flow of friends and colleagues from surf, animation and advertising circles and was offered a publishing deal right there at the opening! I promise to disclose the details as everything becomes more concrete, so meanwhile, you can follow the adventures of "Sue Nammi" right here on the gallery walls as part of Damian's latest magnum opus Surfploytation!

Robert Palcios' work complements it perfectly on the two opposing walls that house Gallery I. His Loteria themed show, Game of Life, garnered comparisons to both Mark Ryden and Jose Guadalupe Posada.

Frijol Boy and Cristina Paulos each drove in from Las Vegas to revel in the carnival atmosphere of the La Luz de Jesus Independence Day Weenie Roast. Each has explored different routes from animation to fine art, with spray acrylic and reclaimed paper playing a major part in their respective exhibitions. Michael Brown was unable to attend, but Alyson Souza was on hand to discuss her gorgeous oil on wood and multi-media constructions.

If you missed the opening, you've got just under 30 days to catch it!

In five days we welcome New Texture Publishing for the L.A. Weekly's Pick of the Week for Thursday, July 8th. Josh Alan Friedman will be playing guitar and reading from his book Black Cracker, the heartbreakingly funny four-year odyssey of the only white kid at the last segregated school in New York. He'll of course be signing copies of his book, and he's bringing along friends Chris D. (of The Flesheaters and Divine Horsemen fame) to read and sign his collection, A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die, and publisher/author Wyatt Doyle, who'll be signing his Los Angeles bus memoir, Stop Requested.

So there you have it: at least eleven reasons to get your tookus on down here!
See you soon.