the {open} 4th st. anniversary party
saturday, april 12 // 7-10pm // free (RSVP only)

Can you believe it? It’s been a whole YEAR since we moved to our new digs here on 4th St.! We opened “new” {open} on April 8, 2007, with a tooth-chippingly awesome performance from poet Derrick Brown and The Blank Tapes, who was (yes, singular!) recently praised in (the singular) Rolling Stone.

Well, we love our new home, so we’re throwing the street a party! The first {open} 4th St. Anniversary will feature Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2. Of course, these guys have already met a whole bunch of times; including last year when they released the album Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2 (from Japan’s Toy’s Factory). And the three will continue to meet, as they’re currently collaborating on the Mattson 2’s next album, which also features Tommy Guerrero, Money Mark, and John McEntire of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake.

At {open}, Ray Barbee Meets The Mattson 2 will provide a set (or two!) of their soothing, surf-hued blend of lounge and jazz from guitarist Ray Barbee and the impeccably mod Jonathan and Jared Mattson on drums and bass. Joining them, as he often does, will be bassist Aakaash Israni.

The rest of the evening will belong to DJ Nobody, who, along with sets at web radio collective dublab, will also be releasing an album later this year, as half of the dreamy, groovy Blank Blue.

In a delightful bonus, the evening will be furnished with refreshments from Bushmills! As such it’s an RSVP-only, 21+ event . There is also extremely limited attendance, so you’ll need to let us know if you want to come (and soon!).

Hey, {open} made the LA Times … and for the first time, it’s only about us! Sweet!!
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A bookstore that’s Open to experiment
By Andrew Asch
February 7, 2008

WITH a name like We Barbarians, drummer Nathan Warkentin’s rock trio seems fated to play loud. But on a recent Saturday, the group threw out the rule book. Warkentin, 26, blamed the change on the atypical setting — the multipurpose Long Beach space called Open.

“We’re playing at a bookstore. You got to treat it with reverence,” says the rocker who typically plays at clubs like the Silverlake Lounge and Detroit Bar. For 30 or so minutes, soulful, acoustic music ruled — teasing a crowd of more than 50 with hints of rock ‘n’ roll frenzy.

It was a tension that Open co-owners Shea M. Gauer, 32, and Sé Reed, 27, could live with. When the veteran bookstore clerks debuted their business in November 2003, they vowed to create a meeting place that would host more than mere author signings. They wanted to schedule events that would make nightclub owners jealous.

In December, indie-rock pioneer Jonathan Richman played Open. Experimental Los Angeles rockers Languis played a week later. Yet Reed wanted the events to not only be about music, but almost every kind of media. It’s why she and Gauer call their boutique a literary art gallery instead of a bookstore.

Hence, the name. “It’s about being open to new ideas and new experiences,” Reed says.

Author Dan Fante, a star on the independent publishing scene, appeared in December, and the Jan. 26 show by We Barbarians doubled as an art opening.

On display was the collage-style art of Matt Maust, bassist for indie-rock darlings Cold War Kids. The art was used for the band’s 2006 album “Robbers & Cowards.” Maust typically exhibits at galleries. “It’s not so much about the art,” Maust, 28, says of showing at Open. “It’s about people and the books.”

The people sip chai lattes or wine and browse a store decorated with old typewriters for vintage pulp paperbacks, used books and works from independent publishers such as Long Beach’s Burning Shore Press.

Gauer claims no special advantages in booking independent stars. Rather, he said he lays long sieges to artists. He spent one year talking with Maust to find the right time to do an art show at Open.

His hard work is adding to the independent character of Open’s neighborhood. Long Beach’s East 4th and Junipero Avenue is known as Retro Row for its concentration of vintage fashion and furniture shops.

It attracts patrons such as Rebecca Cherkoss, a theater teacher who attended the Jan. 26 show and liked the boutique’s slice of alternative culture.

“Unfortunately,” she says, “this is rare.”###

Yes, the 3rd annual SoundWalk is here to arrouse your ears and excite your eyes. Not to be missed. There are also 3 nights of performances surrounding the event. All details below:

SoundWalk2006

Saturday, October 7^th
5-10pm // free
East Village Arts District,
Downtown Long Beach

For more info:
www.soundwalk.org
562.499.6736


SoundWalk2006 Participants:

Aaron Drake / Alan & Carolyn Lechusza / Albert Ortega / Alessandro Bosetti / Arcanum / Barbez / Betsy Lohrer Hall / Bryan Ijeoma / Carlos Giffoni / Carlos Giordani (Italy) / Carrie Yury / Christiaan Cruz / D. Jean Hester / Danial Nord / David Rothbaum / Doug Pearsall / Eric Kabisch / Eric Strauss / Erin Scott & Matt Scott / EverLovely LightningHeart / FLOOD / Gary Raymond / Glenn Bach / Hans Fjellestad / Harry Um & Edmond Cho / Helga Fassonaki / hop-frog / Ian Henderson / Ida Hede Bertelsen, Stine Hebert, Mikkel Meyer & Ursula Nistrip (Denmark) / j.frede / James Orsher / Jazzkammer (Norway) / Jeremy Helton & Kyle Wilson / Joe Negro / Joeseph Tepperman & Laura Steenberge / John Kannenberg / Jonathon Grasse / Jorge Martin / Kabir Carter / Kamran Sadeghi (Son of Rose) / Kevin Paul / Marcos Fernandes / Metal Rouge / Michael Grodsky & Robert Drummond / MLuM / Noah Thomas / Phil Curtis / Phillip Stearns & Lewis Keller/ phog masheen / Ron Saunders & Mackenzie Bristow (South Korea) / RS-232 / smgsap / Substrate / Sumako / Surrealestate


Performance Schedule:


Friday, October 6th
8pm // $10 donation
The Dome Room
528 E. Broadway
Downtown Long Beach, CA 90802
562.499.6736ARCANUM (San Diego)
www.myspace.com/arcanumartensemble

Alessandro Bosetti (Berlin)
www.melgun.net

Noah Thomas (Long Beach)
http://www.csulb.edu/~gbach/socalsonicthomas.html

Metal Rouge (Aukland/L.A.)
http://helgafassonaki.net/

~~~~~

Post-event Performances:

Monday, October 9th
8:30pm // $8
{open}
144 Linden Ave.
Dowtown Long Beach 90802
562.499.OPEN // www.thestoryofopen.com (Berlin) (Aukland/L.A.) ~~~~~ 8:30pm // $8{open}144 Linden Ave.Dowtown Long Beach 90802562.499.OPEN // Jazzkammer (Norway)
www.jazzkammer.com Carlos Giffoni (Brooklyn)
www.carlosgiffoni.com(Brooklyn)David Rothbaum (Los Angeles)
www.davidrothbaum.com

~~~~~

Wednesday, October 11th
8:30pm // $8
{open}
144 Linden Ave.
Dowtown Long Beach 90802
562.499.OPEN // www.thestoryofopen.com

(Brooklyn) (Los Angeles) 8:30pm // $8{open}144 Linden Ave.Dowtown Long Beach 90802562.499.OPEN // Barbez (Brooklyn)
www.barbez.comHans Fjellestad (Los Angeles)
www.hansfjellestad.comMikkel Meyer (Copenhagen)
www.myspace.com/mikkelmeyer


~~~~~

Join {open} SATURDAY NIGHT for Popcorn & Politics!

{open} is screening the Academy-Award nominated documentary STREET FIGHT.
(see below for a synopsis and more info).

Local elections have a significantly greater impact on our day-to-day life than national elections … and yet only about 3,000 people (5-10%) vote in the Second District City Council races. The run-offs is one of the most recent council elections were decided by FIFTEEN VOTES (yeah, 15).The LB Second District council seat is up for grabs on June 6, 2006 (hmmm … catchy date) and with 11 candidates and a winner take all format, EVERY SINGLE VOTE counts.
This is a really important election, and will directly impact the development of both {open} and the EVAD, so come down and check out the film and get the lowdown on the race from our point of view. We need your help to take both {open} and the EVAD to the next level. Second District candidate Brain U. will be on hand to talk about the issues of the Second District and his campaign.

Come down and register or re-register or sign up to get an absentee ballot (which makes it really easy to not forget to vote).

And yeah, we’ll have Popcorn … we’re debating about whether to bring some Popov.

“If somebody doesn’t want you to tell a story this much, it’s probably a story that needs to be told.”
—Marshall Curry, producer/director, Street Fight

Screening Academy-Award nominamted documentary
STREET FIGHT
Saturday, May 6
8pm
{open}
FREE + TREATS

FILM SYNOPSIS

There’s a saying that democracy is a contact sport. The Academy Award-nominated film “Street Fight” gives you a ringside seat. Even if you know the outcome from national reports, or lived in Newark at the time, this insider’s chronicle of the 2002 race for mayor in Newark, New Jersey is riveting, delivering a dramatic account of youthful energy and ideals running headlong into old-guard machine politics and racial demagoguery. These opposing forces are, of course, nothing new in American elections. But, in Newark in 2002, a black mayor was using these tactics against a black challenger. Early on, a staffer for Cory Booker, the upstart challenger in the race, warns that this election will be decided in the streets. “Street Fight” lives up to the staffer’s prediction — and to its own title — as the campaign between Booker and four-time Mayor Sharpe James devolves from dirty tricks to intimidation to the threat of worse. The film crew itself becomes a target for Mayor James’ supporters — and the mayor himself — who see everyone as either for them or against them.
MORE

Early on, a staffer for Cory Booker, the upstart challenger in the race, warns that this election will be decided in the streets. “Street Fight” lives up to the staffer’s prediction — and to its own title — as the campaign between Booker and four-time Mayor Sharpe James devolves from dirty tricks to intimidation to the threat of worse. The film crew itself becomes a target for Mayor James’ supporters — and the mayor himself — who see everyone as either for them or against them.

Early on, a staffer for Cory Booker, the upstart challenger in the race, warns that this election will be decided in the streets. “Street Fight” lives up to the staffer’s prediction — and to its own title — as the campaign between Booker and four-time Mayor Sharpe James devolves from dirty tricks to intimidation to the threat of worse. The film crew itself becomes a target for Mayor James’ supporters — and the mayor himself — who see everyone as either for them or against them.