hark the hallows, shannon and shiloe, hangup's and more...

halloween throws open many a door behind which, for the better part of the year, all those all too human inclinations wait to be released. sometimes those inclinations serve only to heighten bad ideas that occur in smaller doses regardless of whether or not there happens to be a holiday to support them. like a huge masked ball where the king becomes an anonymous drunk and the queen sneaks off with her lover (or the other way around), halloween is about how fun honesty can be as long as it appears in costume.

for all these reasons, planning a halloween event is as fun as attending one because the results are always wonderful and more than a bit absurd. on no other night could we have rolled up the doors of the warehouse to welcome in at one point in the evening a guy dressed as a gift-wrapped package with a tag that read "to: Women, from: God" complete with bow. there were pirates, new wave berliners (although I'm not sure that they were in costume), the band shiloe came with their throats slashed and blood running down matching white t-shirts, joy shannon's beauty marks with skull white faces and blacked out eyes surrounded the beautiful girl herself dressed in full victorian regalia. the effect was stunning. mystery hangup gave the impression that they live halloween, representing the idea that any day is a good day to dress up. the atmosphere created by the performers and audience alike transformed occca from the paintings to the traditional black draps that can be seen on any day of the year. still hanging were dana lovell's multi-media paintings created from oil and wax, featuring non-representational forms in dark rusts, black and gold leaf. where as at the last show (ec experimental concert series #14) dana's paintings held all the sophistication that could be found hanging in a urban loft, last night, surrounded by skeletons and gouls his rich shapes picked up the darker forms in the room and became almost akin to the creations of francis bacon. for more information on dana lovell's work, please click on the image to visit occca's website:





a dramatic height was created in a performance by the experimental music and flamenco dance duo, etereum. with josue meneses on percussion created by pipes, water barrels and medival long handle axes (no joke) and claudia de la cruz experimenting with the traditional art of flamenco dance the result is a new arena of performance art and music. the couple is a strong and active presence in the santa ana artist village and it is always a pleasure to work with and watch them.

one of the most successful aspects of the evening was an experiment of sorts in our idea to have people bring in crafts and artwork to be hung in the gallery for the night of the event only. another wonderful way to boost the atmosphere as well as give the audience something to do while the bands are shifting places, the idea was inspired by other very successful efforts by other organizations like ISM magazine and the local Girrl Fair. we wanted to add another way for the community of artists present in santa ana to participate and feel welcome. occca has been up to this point such an under-appreciated venue in the arts community, if our events had one focus only it would be to create awareness and interest in the space and the artists that show there. our thoughts are always bent towards bringing artists and creatively minded people of all kinds into the gallery. it is a warehouse after all and who doesn't appreciate an art warehouse...anyone?

new ideas are on the way as the eclectic company moves into a time of rest with a break in the concert season. we will continue to show first friday films with next month's showing of "the secret."

check out the eclectic company website by clicking on the image below for videos and pictures from last nights show as well as links to the individual websites of all the performers and artists.

cool weather = cool projects

things have been more than a bit hectic lately with two shows to arrange for the month of october. stevo has it down though and already the lineup for the 13th is creating a bit of a frenzy. the nature of the space has always been a major factor with so much floor space (6300 sq.ft give or take) and wall space to match, the bands really run the show with lots of room to put on a multi-fauceted performance. the 13th will be a true testament to this in that all three bands at this point are either bringing their own video projections or utilizing the talents of our in-house video artist (stevo) who has been putting together quite a few visuals for bands as of late. the man has a wealth of imagery and editing skills that seem to magically sync-up with whatever performance they are projected behind. pretty freaky actually.

on the subject of video, the big project at the moment is the special edition dvd that we are putting together containing what will hopefully come together as a mini documentary of our efforts thus far in creating music, art and community.

the second (and extra special) project is our halloween show which will be a "come one, come all" arts exhibition and crafts fair in addition to an amazing lineup of performances including a dance performance by e t e r e u m and bands:

*Shiloe
*Joy Shannon & the Beauty Marks
*Mystery Hangup

the caliber of the bands we are lucky enough to work with is driving us to find new ways to get information out to southern california about the truly independent music scene that seems to co-exhist with all the hype and glitz that seems to have almost completely hypnotized this area of the world. we are like little moths that live so close to the flame that we know almost nothing else. so, that being said, i am working on a series of interviews which are primarily meant for dvd content but will also be posted here along with pictures, links, and generally as much information that is worthy to take up space in your brains...

keep checking back as we pull things together for our two october shows. artist interested in participating in the halloween show, please submit your questions through the ec website by clicking the image below. the entry form is available there for download.

much love...

the poster for the october 13th show:

starting out with a ramble...

hello everyone~

i feel as if i have given all there is to give in the "about us" section, at least for tonight. we have a show coming up this Saturday (ahem...please see attached sexy flyer bit) with lots to do and think about and produce before then. the trickiest aspects of "event planning" are the little details that one is liable to miss which turn out to be so damn important the night of. topping the list of "little details" is 1. having information on upcoming events ready to hand out to the audience. no brainer right? the problem simply is that we don't have job assignments - because that would defeat our purpose which is basically "hey, look what we can achieve with nothing." job descriptions fall into "something" and are therefore null and void. so often times the little details become the whole of the friday/saturday before the concert. it's a mad typesetting scramble. thank g-d we're all designers. doing things for something with nothing helps if you have a creative mindset. if you find yourself on the more practical side of the stick don't despair, simply contact us immediately. we f-ing need you. help us create a flow chart that doesn't involve a pathway from the front door to the bar. please.

while i'm on the subject, it deserves to be mentioned that this saturday will be the first show without "the lunchbox." for those that have played with us in the past, you know, that "the lunchbox" is a term of enderment for our PA system. with it's little red light blinking wildly with the drama of an actor trained in the shakespearean tradition, it dies every fifteen minutes. this causes much duress to our wonderful technician and friend jerry who runs to the aid of "the lunchbox," bringing it back to life. this process was apparently witnessed at our last show by craig, a man who has offered to help us acquire funding for equipment and has arranged for equipment to be available this saturday. this is the kind of thing we love and count on. thank you craig!

more details on the show tomorrow as well as pictures, interviews and video clips of past performances that i feel are worth archiving here. i'm so terribly unprepared at the moment. i just wanted to put something down
click on the image below to visit the ec site for more information on this saturday's show