Author Archives: jp

This Wednesday, January 15th, 2013 from 9pm to midnight (or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Attack of the Clothes Pegs
$2 Donation, por favor
$4 DRINK SPECIAL!!! >>> The Lyla! Whiskey and Ginger Beer, give a cheer!

Leave it to the Shakers, with their durable and stark precision furniture, to invent the plain wooden clothes peg in the 1700s. I began this post not knowing much about clothes pegs, and boy lemme tell you, a wormhole in the internet has since informed me to the gills about this under-celebrated harbinger of usefulness.

This primitive stick with a slit in the end and the ball on top has been the subject of patent wars, federal law, museum exhibits, oddball collections, monuments and the bona fide survival of millions. We’ve done some projects with the spring-loaded model of clothes pins before, but this will be the first time we’ve ever used the classic, non-metal variety. The unsung beauty of this type of peg is that it is fashioned out of one piece of wood, and there is no metal that could rust, it’s clean, simple, spartan. And because its design is so uncluttered by apparati, it leaves much room for adding your own complications!

You can make owls, mermaids, butterflies and characters, all from wooden clothes pegs. You can add magnets, paper, googly eyes, pipe cleaners and whatever else to build just about anything! There will be paint, and felt, and ribbon, and even some ideas for you to peruse, in case you’re having a creative clothes peg block.

January 15th is Martin Luther King’s Birthday, many of you will have MLK Day (third Monday in January) off, this observance is the least favorite among factories and manufacturers, and the most popular amongst non-profit organizations. Here are a few ways to celebrate MLK this week:

The 29th Annual Kingdom Day Parade starting at Leimert Park, this is the largest parade in the country honoring the late Dr. King (over 150 floats!)

Visit The African American Firefighter Museum, the first and only freestanding museum of its kind, and it’s just across the street from the historic Coca Cola building on south central avenue in LA! I do believe it’s closed on Monday though (duh) but check the hours, it’s got a lot of really cool old engines and firefighter stuff.

Long Beach’s “Peace and Unity” Parade on January 18th will have floats, bands, music, and “Dreamland” an area dedicated to upholding the legacy of Dr. King, with free carnival rides, arts and crafts and entertainment.

LACMA and The Autry Museum are FREE on Monday!

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MOVIES  you Might Wanna See, If You Feel Like Seeing Them!

Take yourself to the “Sing-a-Long” Mary Poppins situation over at the El Capitan, and sing your heart out! Through January 20th, larger than life, technicolor-crazy-lovely-marvelous!

All there’s a noir double feature at the New Beverly Cinema, Kansas City Confidential and 99 River Street (the picture that lays it on the line!) both directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne.

Ever checked out the HEAVY MIDNIGHTS section of Cinefamily? OMG then please do, as this upcoming Friday you’ve got a midnight screening of Ghost World, and on January 21st it’s Scavenger Hunt and coming up two weeks after that for Valentine’s Day is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 

Annnnd if you’re in the mood for “The Truffle Shuffle”, from the comfort of your very own vehicle, the Electric Dusk Drive-In  is showing The Goonies on Saturday Night (Jan, 18th)!!!!

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

TONIGHT! Wednesday January 8th, 2013 from 9pm to midnight (or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Winter Craft Mugs-n-Stuffs
$2 Donation, por favor
$4 DRINK SPECIAL!!! >>> The Lyla! A Ginger Beer and Whiskey so you can feel Frisky! 

Here we are, in the year of 2014, and now that I’m over the flu, BOY will I be happy to see YOU! I’m going to break out the drawing stuff and the colored paper and put out some DIY mugs, because I have a bunch of those. But don’t worry, if you were here for that night, and you already HAVE a DIY mug, I’ll have something else up my sleeve for you to do.

January 8th is Argyle Day, I’d wear my argyle sweater, but I think it made me look too much like an old geezer, so it was donated to a thrift store. Someone else can look like an old geezer… and be warm.  January 8th is also National Bubble Bath Day, which I think is perfect now that the holidays are over and it’s time to breathe. The Ancient Greeks and Romans, the Japanese, the Chinese, the uptight Victorians, basically every culture through the ages knew that sometimes you just have to calm down and sit in hot water. If you haven’t taken a bath in awhile, give it a whirl, it’s a cheap way to feel 5-star in 5 minutes, and if you don’t have a tub, check out Wii Spa or Century Spa or any o’ those $15 dollar treasures in Korea Town that has all the luxury and none of the nonsense. Because this is that time of year when soaking around is warranted.

Then there’s toffee. It’s also National Toffee Day, a confection that didn’t have any record in our lexicon until the year 1825. In Wales, it was apparently a thing to invite people over during the holidays and make toffee in a pot on the fire! Gonna have to try that sometime, but until Akbar gets that big chimney hearth they’re always talking about, I think I’ll try to locate some good toffee to share for us this evening.  

WORKSHOPS for YOUR SHINY NEW 2014 LIFE

•  Also, were you thinking of taking ceramics? Kristen Lee Erickson is teaching it out in La Cañada at the Community Center! 

• Or were you thinking about “Getting More Gay” in one of Ian MacKinnon’s gay liberation creative workshop series? 

• And also in your town is the I + We Collective Movement Workshop with Human Resources coming up mid month!

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

Wednesday November 19th, 2013 from 9pm to midnight (or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Pinecone Turkeys
$2 Donation, por favor
$4 DRINK SPECIAL>>> The Lyla! The Ginger Beer and Whiskey Combo that’ll jiggle yer gristle! 

It’s the LAST CraftNight of November, next week, CraftNight has the night off, and you can come to the bar and DANCE until you’ve lost 10 lbs so that you can go gorge yourself on turkey and feel free and easy about your vivacious waist.

This means, if you want November to go out in crafty style, a pinecone turkey might just be quite the conversation piece at the table this year. The charm of a garden variety pinecone that has been anthropomorphized into one of America’s most popular birds is a great way to get to know people. You could make one of these and put it on a box that holds a pie.

Or you could make a pinecone turkey and stare at it for way to long, developing strange feelings about pine trees, holidays, large meals, canned cranberry sauce, gravy boats, football, inflatable cartoon characters, and relatives that you STILL haven’t figured out whether you like or not after all these years.

However it all turns out, your pinecone turkey will have your back. The two of you can take on anything together.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

www.crafthead.com

www.akbarsilverlake.com