Month: July 2018

THE DIVINE HORSEMEN’S ROBYN JAMESON HAS DIED A HERO

Chris Desjardins 

It is with immense sadness I’m letting you all know friend and fellow musician, Robyn Jameson, passed away last evening, July 25. Robyn had been in a coma for the last few weeks due to a nightmarish incident on the street where he was trying to help someone else. Both he and another gentleman witnessed a violent man assaulting a woman. They both went to her aid, and Robyn received the worst of it, receiving severe head trauma & being knocked unconscious. Robyn’s friend and the woman received relatively minor injuries. From all reports, the assailant is in custody and was allegedly not only on parole but is a repeat offender. Due to the wishes of the family and per Robyn’s own ideas of end-of-life situations – with a zero recovery prognosis from more than one doctor – Robyn was taken off life support (respirator, IVs, etc.) on Sunday afternoon, July 22nd. Along with immediate family, Ellen, Bernadette and Justin, friend Jeb, mutual friend/former Flesh Eater (1998-2000) Johnny Ray and I were there. Robyn was one of the few musicians I’ve played with who represented a through-line down through the years, in both several Flesh Eaters line-ups and all Divine Horsemen line-ups, playing bass and making an enormous, versatile contribution in terms of musical ideas. He appeared on the 3rd and 4th Flesh Eaters albums (“Forever Came Today” 1982 & “A Hard Road to Follow” 1983), all Divine Horsemen albums/EPs (“Time Stands Still” 1984, “Devil’s River” 1986, “Middle of the Night,” “Snake Handler” and “Handful of Sand,” all 1987). He also played bass on later Flesh Eaters albums, “Ashes of Time” 1999 and “Miss Muerte” 2004, both of the latter being recorded at Robyn’s rehearsal/recording facility, Yo Studios. Due to the 2008 recession and North Hollywood’s ruthless ’eminent domain’ policy for demolition/construction of the Lankershim/Chandler street LA Metro nexus, Robyn lost Yo Studios and moved to San Antonio, where he had many friends, until returning to Los Angeles earlier this decade. He was very excited at the prospect of the forthcoming Divine Horsemen reunion shows that were going to take place at the end of September. Julie Christensen, Peter Andrus and I have decided to postpone these Divine Horsemen shows indefinitely, most likely until sometime in 2019., rather than rush to find a replacement for Robyn’s invaluable contribution. Below are some pictures from various Flesh Eaters and Divine Horsemen photo sessions over the decades. I’ve tagged quite a few people, please forgive me if I absent-mindedly omitted your name.

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RAJIWORLD + THE BIKE ZOO CELEBRATE LA!

Route Revealed for Massive LA Phil Street Fest

Streets will shutter to cars from Disney Hall to Hollywood, all in honor of the LA Phil’s 100th anniversary.

When the LA Phil announced in the fall of 2017 that a free, mega-of-scale open streets party was in the works, one that would have CicLAvia as a partner, one that would celebrate the legendary music outfit’s centennial, one that stretched from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Hollywood Bowl, the first word that many locals must of thought was… wow, how?

Okay, two words.

Such a goal could be achieved, of course. It would be done, to be sure.

But closing such a lengthy route to vehicles seemed to be an undertaking that would out-big every other closed-to-cars street festival ever to grace our big city’s big thoroughfares.

And “big” is the keyword as you study the route map for the Sunday, Sept. 30event, which was just released by the LA Phil on the morning of Thursday, July 12. The event’s name? Celebrate LA! LA Phill 100 x CicLAvia.

A few notes? There are six hubs along the eight-mile route, with stages for live entertainment: Walt Disney Concert Hall, MacArthur Park, Koreatown, Melrose, Hollywood, and the Hollywood Bowl.

The main streets to be closed, from DTLA to Hollywood, include Grand, Wilshire, Western, Melrose, and Vine. Sizable portions of those streets will be closed to cars, of course — not the entire street, do note — but know before you go what will be shuttered and where and when.

Helpful to keep in mind? The closed-streets route doesn’t actually go all the way to the Hollywood Bowl, but there will be a Bowl shuttle from the route’s Tinseltown terminus.

The hours are 9 a.m. to 4 in the afternoon.

Activities and happenings along the way include the LA Phil 100: Photo Booth, the Music Mobile Instrument Petting Zoo, yoga, art, and a ukulele workshop.

Artists to perform at the hub stages include Dengue Fever, Las Cafeteras, Ozomatli, and so many other major singers and music acts.

The concert at the Hollywood Bowl later that evening will include Gustavo Dudamel, Herbie Hancock, Kali Uchis, YOLA, and the LA Phil, with more artists to be announced.

This will be one of the biggest parties of the early fall, one of the most joyous, one of the most starry, sizable, and free. Whether you bike it, walk it, or turn out for a favorite band’s set, best start plotting your course from Hollywood to DTLA, or DTLA to Hollywood, or somewhere between the two, now.

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