Over the past two years The Do LaB’s Lightning in a Bottle Music & Arts Festival has become one of the most beloved, exceptional events within the West Coast’s young, active, environmentally and health conscious, creative community. Powered almost entirely by “green” alternative energy and produced as a model for sustainable large-scale live entertainment, the event is renowned as a showcase featuring some of the most acclaimed and original musical and performance acts, as well as a nexus of community and green education.
In May 2008, Lighting in a Bottle once again returns to Santa Barbara with a stellar lineup on 3 major music stages, and a slew of other attractions that include a dynamic art gallery and large-scale art installations, workshops, interactive entertainment, and much more. With the success of the previous years The Do LaB is expanding LIB08 to 4 days over Memorial Day weekend.
As influencers and leaders within the community, The Do LaB is just as committed to creating an event with the highest caliber of entertainment and ambience as we are to promoting sustainability. We fuel or offset the energy needs of the festival with solar power, bio-diesel, and wind power, and implement sustainable production practices throughout the whole event.
The Do LaB aims not only to produce an unforgettable experience, but to set an example for the creative and sustainable lifestyle. We are currently seeking to build relationships with brands and organizations that share our green vision.
for more information on the sponsorship opportunities available at LIB08 contact: dede@thedolab.com
everyday there’s some kind of new technology hoopla vying for my attention with the sordid insidiousness of a tabloid magazine at the checkout counter. and i don’t even buy that shit, but for some reason i can never resist trying to get the latest download on what’s going on in brad and angelina’s relationship while i’m waiting to ring up my groceries.
like this crazy story about a 17 year old girl from a working-class chicago suburb with no business background or any kind of investment backing accidentally striking it rich with her site that creates custom myspace layouts: www.whateverlife.com. (i feel like i may as well be reading about the state of britney’s deteriorating mental health.)
or getting sent links to stuff like dapper.net–which i don’t even understand what the hell it means half the time and that just fills me with this kind anxiety that’s on par with the dread of an “orange”national security alert. (are you feeling it yet?)
but that, of course, just begs the question: why is google so scared? what’s facebook really trying to do?
it’s like lindsey lohan. it’s insidious. it’s a giant nebula of crowd-sourced user-generated conspiratorial terror. i don’t want to think about the internet anymore. i’m over it. i just want a break.
i’m doing that thinking about the internet thing again.
fucking QUIT IT, internet. i don’t even care about this defeating, demoralizing tabloid trashstuff.
this is why i try to stay on the people side. with humans it might take like millennia to create any kind of significant change. it’s like…. all you have to do is look backwards at a relatively finite amount of information. (we may be discovering more of it as we go along, but it’s not like more of it’s being created.) so you just figure that stuff out, and you’re good to go. the basic programming idea behind the way we think, why want what we want, why we buy what we buy, why we behave the way we do, it’s all right there….. it’s like a swiss watch. it’s complicated, but you’re not expected to put it together differently every morning.
the internet, however is a different story. makes you want to just stick your fingers in your ears and go “lalalalala” (it’s working out well for the music industry, i hear).
ugh….
the whole thing’s just a big ol’ mess.
the post about the whateverlife.com story says:
The name came to Ashley in a moment of frustration. After losing a video game to [her friend] Bre, she dropped the controller and blurted out, “Whatever, life.” She liked it instantly. She thought it would be a great name for a Web site.
well…..
at least i’m not the only one tired of this stuff. even fifty’s got technolofatigue:
we’re embarking on a new experiment for the winter issue of the do lab artist network publication. looking for animators/ motion graphics/ v-fx artists to participate.
For the past year we have been producing a quarterly arts publication showcasing the diversity of artistic expression within, and relevant to, the Do LaB’s community. For our forthcoming issue we seek to spotlight the creative output from various sonic creators combined with that of visual effects, motion graphics, and animation artists.
Many talented musicians have submitted original music, and we are now seeking the rockstar visual artists in our midst interested in creating an interpretation, accompaniment, or re-envisioning of the music through THEIR eyes to complete this collaborative, cross-media experiment.
We are calling this an experiment because we have never attempted to do anything quite like this before, and are just as curious as you to discover where such a project can lead and what kind of dynamic creations it can inspire.
The end-results of this collaboration will be distributed to the Do LaB database and beyond, as well as screened at one of our upcoming events.
If this project sounds like something you would like to participate in, you can get all the info HERE.
four guys on keyboards does not a band make, but when they’re laptop keyboards it’s a whole new breed of musical act.
last night the glitch mob dutifully slayed the LA crowd at the kingking on hollywood blvd. it was the first time in a long time (too long) that all four members played together. with half the band based in san francisco and half in l.a., plus a highly modular performance aspect, getting to hear the whole ensemble together is a significant treat, and for reasons beyond simple logistics.
in a genre known for solitary performers (djs), or, at most, duos (daft punk, justice, juniorsenior) a dynamic team of performers creating the music experience is practically unheard of.
i’m betting this new incarnation of a “band” for digital age is a sign of things to come.
and since you’re curious, check out the mob’s mix on xlr8r.com.
the mob’s girls friday–me with their booking agent, arin ingraham of lumineart:
marshall herskovitz and edward zwick aren’t simply geniuses, they are CONSISTENTLY the only ones creating television programming that reflects the real struggles of an entire generation.
thirtysomething was before my time, (though i do know it as the series that went down in history as the first to feature a gay relationship on TV, so that already says something about the creative team’s cultural prescience), but a decade later my so-called life was RIGHT on schedule. what made that show so great wasn’t that it was incredible television (though it was–winning 6 golden globes and 7 nods in its two short seasons on TV), but because it felt like it was ABOUT ME!
well, it’s been a decade since claire danes became the vicarious incarnation of manic-paniced, post-grunge-era high school girls everywhere, and this november herskovitz and zwick are launching “quarterlife” an internet series and social network.
from the quarterlife site:
A show about a group of twentysomethings coming of age in the digital generation. And a social network about what it means to be creative, to pursue a passion, to make a difference in the world — or just to find a place in it.
From Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creative team behind “My So-Called Life,” quarterlife is the first Internet series that is as high quality as any film or television show.
quarterlife is premiering on myspace on november 11, and on quarterlife.com on november 12–but IMDB still insists it’s a TV series. hello? IMDB? might be time for a new category?
before i launch into my little speech about how amazing i think this show (which, unless you’re in the right demo for it, you’re probably going to find incredibly hokey; ahem: the demo is in high school and college, it’s not ACTUALLY 20-somethings) has the potential to be, i’d just like to point out that this move perfectly exemplifies what i mean when i say that “culture” is the next “community”–i.e. we’re all social networked out. we’re all connected and commented and poked to death. stick a fork in it. we’re done. we’re ready for social networks to become channels for cultural content, rather than JUST mind-numbing social drama timesucks.
it’s an incredible talent to be able to put a finger on the very pulse of a demographic, and use that rhythm to broadcast a beat that invokes the identification of a generation. (i swear to god, in the quarterlife trailer, it looks like one of the characters is directing a scion commercial! ok. i think it’s time now for an official word all unto itself, that does not involve several iterations of the prefix “post,” for the word “post-postmodern.” can someone get on this?)
marketing would kill for this, but herskovitz and zwick live and breathe it. the same qualities of curiosity and understanding that would allow a team of television producers to create content that bespeaks an unyielding fascination not just with generational cohorts, but with, essentially, the impacts of cultural shifts in general, are equally as crucial not just to the process of creating relevant marketing, but to generating greater cultural understanding.
god damn, that was a long sentence– but boy, it was worth it!
but wait! it gets BETTER!
in case you’re wondering what they’re gonna do in few years when the show’s characters grow out of their quarterlife crisis:
quarterlife.com is a social networking site for creative people. Whatever your interest – photography, writing, music, filmmaking, dance, design – quarterlife.com will help you go to the next level. Connect with like-minded people, gather information about schools, grants, and internships. It’s a place to explore the issues in your life, where changing the world is as real as the friends you meet.
damn. this might actually make up for the fact that the only network my so-called life had was a TV network. not that i think myspace is necessarily the right venue to launch this through anyway, but then again MSCL started out on ABC and became salvaged into cult perpetuity on MTV, so there’s always room to find where the right audience is really at. now more than ever. so we’ll, no doubt, see how it goes. Quarterlife Trailer
aside from that, the only other thing i think they could have possibly done better is the casting. in 2007 it kinda seems really strange for a contemporary show to have an all-white cast (this isn’t facebook, after all–badumching!). it’s not just me, is it? i mean… is it weirdly anachronistic looking to anyone else?
