Author Archives: Vanessa

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: 5 things to pack for the festival

Fans dance in the crowd at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Saturday, July 13 was my first experience at Lightning in a Bottle. I’ve braved the heat and hipsters of Coachella, the hip-hop heads at Rock the Bells and the metal onslaught of Mayhem, but this year is my first time at LiB, which is celebrating its first year in Riverside County at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester this weekend.

I picked up on a few things I should bring with me for next year.

1. Hula hoop
This is a must-have accessory for enjoying the music at LiB. Everyone seems to hoop and some of them are super elaborate.

2. Yoga mat
There’s yoga going on all weekend long in the Temple of Consciousness. Bring your own mat.

3. Bubbles
Unlike at other festivals, you can bring in liquid bubbles. Bubbles are awesome.

4. Parasol
A brightly colored parasol not only blocks the sun, but is a way for people to find you.

5. Something that lights up.
I should have brought my LED glowing Michael Jackson sparkly glove. Everyone had some kind of glowing dance accessory.

What are your must-have accessories for LiB?

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Sustainability is key to festival

Festivalgoers walk past an art installation created from scrap lumber at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

For a festival so focused on being fun and free, one thing that is taken very seriously at Lightning in a Bottle, which made its Riverside County debut at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester this weekend, is sustainability.

Even before you get to the festival grounds, on the long, winding road through the Lake Skinner recreation area, The DoLaB posted repeated signs about packing up camp and taking trash with you.

On the festival grounds, there are clearly labeled bins for recycling, landfill and compost.

There are stations for water set up throughout the festival, denoted by blue drops rising into the sky. You’re encouraged to refill.

A number of the stage markings and shaded areas have been recycled. A number of them have been part of The Do LaB area at past years of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Inside the festival program there is even a little bit about Lake Skinner with a note to the festivalgoers.
“Let’s show Riverside County how respectful we are and leave it better than we found it.”

Leaving it better than you found it is the ethos of the festival in general.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Festival is full of color

People jump rope over a light up string at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Everywhere you look at Lightning in a Bottle is a kaleidoscope of color.

Large swirling art installations mark stages and shade areas in bright hues of blue and purple, yellow and red. Rainbow hula hoops circle the waists of people of all races. And around the Lake Skinner Reccreation Area, artists work on portraits, sculptures and more.

The colors only intensify as the sun goes down and festival becomes “like a ball,” a man selling lemonade told me. The costumes get amped up, the face makeup gets reapplied and shimmery fairy wings and glowing dance accessories become more common.

Spread out among the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester, this weekend marks the first time the fest has been to Riverside County.

Ryan Kurlish, of Chino, attended Lightning in a Bottle for the first time this year. He attended because it was close by and he was interested in some of the artists.

“At night, it’s amazing,” he said. “There’s a lot of eye candy at night.”

He was impressed by Lucent Dossier Experience’s Friday performance. The troupe is a longtime Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival favorite.

“They just blew me away,” he said.

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: Festivalgoers create art

Yukiko Chavez creates an art piece at the Lightning in a Bottle festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Yukiko Chavez crouched under a canopy, adding pieces to a foam core tree she sculpted as part of her interactive art experience that will become a piece she is calling the “Lightning in a Bottle Tree” at the Lightning in the Bottle Festival at the Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester on Saturday, July 13.

The San Diego artist attended the event twice before this year, just as a festivalgoer. A conversation with a presenter at last year’s fest inspired her to create art again.

“I’ve never done any live sculpting, ever,” she said.

Chavez said she followed Lightning in a Bottle artist Shrine on Facebook and saw he was doing a workshop in Los Angeles. She attended, and helped paint his piece that was shown at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and made a reprise at the Temple of Consciousness at Lightning in a Bottle.

For her creation, the idea fell into place and on her hour long commute each day, when she took advantage of the time to brainstorm. She had the idea that everyone would collaborate and mosaic pieces onto the found art.

“Everybody is going to mosaic those pieces,” she said.

People passed by and added items throughout the weekend. The highest point on a tree is a peanut added by a woman who was carrying a bag of them.

A child took some pieces Chavez had lying around the space to the creation station and glues them and hung them atop the highest branches.

As her seeds of creativity sprouted at Lightning in a Bottle, her interactive sculpture allows others to create, too.

“I’m paying it forward,” Chavez said.

The tree has a hole in the middle, ready for Chavez to put her last piece at the end of the festival, a lightning bolt in a bottle she wore around her neck, made from an empty nail polish bottle and a lightning bolt cut out of the metal that came from a tealight.

PE LIVE: Big Papa and the TCB perform ‘A Thin Line Between Love and Hate’

The Big Papa 3, of Big Papa and the TCB, stopped by PE Live. (Contributed Image)

I am so excited that we were finally able to get Big Papa and the TCB into our studio for PE Live, even if it was technically the Big Papa 3.

The band has shared the stage with some huge acts, thrown their own blues festival and created some fantastic blues music.

Here’s another favorite from the band’s PE Live session– “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.” Watch and enjoy. If you let the video play you will see everything from the PE Live session. You can see all of the PE Live sessions at http://x.pe.com/PE_Live. Support local music: watch PE Live and tell a friend!

REDLANDS: will.i.am talks Esri, maps at conference

In addition to my work as the music reporter here at The Press-Enterprise, I also spend time working on the digital side of things for the newsroom, including making digital maps.

For the past year I’ve been working with Esri in Redlands to use their online mapping programs to help illustrate and tell stories. (On the music side, you might have seen this with our Coachella 2013 artist map or the Inland Empire summer concert guide).

Earlier this week, I attended and presented at the Esri User Conference in San Diego, where one of the keynote speakers was will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.

My music and digital worlds were colliding and it was pretty cool.

The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. speaks at the Esri User Conference in San Diego on Monday, July 8. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am. speaks at the Esri User Conference in San Diego on Monday, July 8. The auditorium was very full so I sat on the far side where I could type on a table. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

He came to Esri’s Redlands campus last year for the WWW conference created by TED founder Richard Saul Wurman.

While there, he learned about what Esri was doing and was intrigued by the work members of the Esri team.

“I never thought Redlands would be the future of Southern California,” will.i.am said during the keynote.

He ultimately teamed up with the company to aid his i.am.angel Foundation that is transforming his hometown of Boyle Heights.

A group of students from Boyle Heights worked with i.am.angel and Esri and also presented their findings at the conference. One of the things that surprised me is that they found that one graveyard in Boyle Heights is bigger than all of the park space combined.

The foundation also hosted a hackathon to encourage kids to get into coding. Will.i.am is headed to MIT this fall to study computer science, too.

He urged those in attendance at the Esri User Conference to mentor kids and turn them into GIS coders.

One of his goals is to turn Boyle Heights into a tech empire and also take it to other cities, including Detroit.

“These maps are important because business has different competitors…the gangs are a business, too,” he said.

The most poignant thing he said was “Turf is no different than intellectual property.”

Also, we just might see will.i.am. in the Inland Empire a little more frequently, too.

“The 10 freeway is long but I’ll drive,” he told the crowd.

CLAREMONT: Hip Kitty hosts Inland singer-songwriters

Jaxx Sessions will appear at the Hip Kitty on Wednesday, July 17. (Contributed Image)

Rancho Cucamonga-based Live on Analog Records has been hosting a monthly night of local music.

Every third Wednesday the open jam will happens at the Hip Kitty in Claremont.

The next one will be on Wednesday, July 17.

Among the artists performing are Jaxx Sessions (pictured) and Sean Amato. Get there early for a chance to get involved in the open jam.

8 p.m.-midnight, Wednesday, July 17, Hip Kitty Jazz and Fondue, 502 W. First St., Claremont, 21 and older only.

Visit www.liveonanalog.com for more information.

RIVERSIDE: Big Papa and the TCB plays Vino Veritas July 11

Big Papa and the TCB perform at The Press-Enterprise for PE Live. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

We just posted the brand new episode of PE Live featuring Big Papa and the TCB, a jump blues band that has been making people dance since 2006, and you can even see them live tonight (Thursday, July 11) in Riverside.

The band is playing Vino Veritas at 8 p.m. It’s free and open to those 21 and older. Vino Veritas is at 285 E. Alessandro Blvd. in the Mission Grove neighborhood of Riverside.

Big Papa and the TCB make fantastic music and their latest “Six Pack of Cool,” which was funded by fans, is their strongest yet in a string of really great albums.

Check out some of the songs from the album in the PE Live session and hear the guys talk about how the band and album came together.

With Big Papa and the TCB we’re up to nearly 60 videos of performances and interviews from Inland Empire musicians. You can watch all of the artists we’ve had so far at the PE Live homepage at http://x.pe.com/PE_Live.

Here’s “Drink Drank Drunk” from our PE Live session. Keep it rolling to see the interviews and the other performances from the band.

ROCK THE BELLS: A-Trak, Chief Keef, Iamsu added to Devore date

Raekwon & Ghostface perform on the 36 Chambers stage during the Rock the Bells hip hop festival at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore on Saturday, August 20, 2011. (File Photo)

Rock the Bells has added more artists to its lineup.

The festival, which primarily focuses on hip-hop, but has always dabbled in other genres, is celebrating its 10th year.

The tour stops include the Inland Empire, where the fest started back in 2004 at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino. This year it will be held just up the 215 freeway at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore Sept. 7 and 8.

The artists that will be joining our show (which is billed as the Los Angeles date), include Canadian DJ A-Trak, Chicago rapper Chief Keef and Iamsu.

The festival announced its initial lineup, which will include performances from Wu-Tang Clan (with an O.D.B. hologram), Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (with an Eazy-E hologram), Fontana native Hit Boy, Danny Brown, Talib Kweli and more, back in May.

Last month, Action Bronson and Girl Talk were among another batch of artists added to the fest.

Tickets for the San Manuel Amphitheater are on sale via Live Nation. Tickets are $165 and $375 before fees.

REDLANDS: Summer Twins visit Hangar 24

Riverside’s Summer Twins have recently released the new EP “Forget Me.” (Summer Twins’ website/Contributed Image)

Riverside’s Summer Twins are headed out on a summer tour, but before the band heads down and up the Pacific Coast, their dreamy indie pop will be at Hangar 24 in Redlands on Wednesday, July 17.

Starting with Riverside sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown, the band has been growing a huge following, and even had a major tour in Japan earlier this year.

More recently, the band released the new EP “Forget Me,” which you can check out on the Summer Twins’ Bandcamp page.

Check out the new video from the band of the title track, directed by Summer Twins’ incredibly talented longtime photographer Joy Newell.

Swiss Alps will open the show at 6:30.

8:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 17, Hangar 24 Brewery, 1710 Sessums Drive, Redlands, free, all ages, but must be 21 to drink.

Visit www.summertwinsmusic.com for more on the band.