Babes n’ Beer from Noah Reich on Vimeo.

Ever since I was a little kid, I would always walk past the neighborhood strip club, “The Frisky Kitty” and one day dream of going inside. I was not exactly sure what a strip club was but I knew that there sign said “Nudes. Beer. Pool.” The thought of being able to one day swim in an indoor pool had always intrigued me. My brother, some friends around the neighborhood and I would constantly visit the location of the Frisky Kitty, we occasionally would concoct plans of how we were going to infiltrate the inside of this club. Hiding in the alleyway like spies, we would try and go through the kitchen doors in the back. We would bring walkie talkies, dress in our bathing suits and even drawing maps of the area pinpointing all the unprotected areas of the building. The alleyway literally became our Neverland. The best years of my youth were spent here, it is where my imagination rose to new heights.

As I got older, the Frisky Kitty turned into Babes n’ Beer, I soon realized that the pool the club offered had nothing to do with water and it me that in a few years, I would legally be able to go into the club. There were no need for elaborate plans to break in and no use for my imagination, it would be as simple as showing them my id. Unfortunately, drug lords, gangsters and prostitutes frequented this “Neverland” which was located directly across the street from me. My dreams as a child soon began disappearing, my imagination evaporating and the stark smell of reality overtook my nostrils.

“TARZANA — A single mother who returned to exotic dancing full time after losing her job as a bill collector was doused with gasoline and set on fire outside a bikini bar early Thursday.”

As I visited the site which I had remembered being so joyous as a kid, I realized it was now marked by infamy, I walked through the alleyway I use to run around and play in as a child but just felt a stillness in the air. The alleyway, which was once flourishing with different businesses, now felt like a economic cemetery. Two individuals were able to cripple an entire group of businesses within seconds There’s a static silence that fills the air, the neighborhood pretends as if this area had never existed before. The building now has become a corpse of the past. Since the attack almost two years ago, not a single portion of the building has been changed. The building is scarred with burns, black smoke stains the beige walls of the club. After knowing about the brutality of the incident and visiting the scene of which the attack happened, while playing in that alleyway, I realized that I grew up thinking life had no bounds, what we did with our lives was fueled by our imagination. I sometimes wonder how my mind would have processed the nature of the crime as a kid, would I recognize that for one young woman, her life would forever be scarred both physically and mentally? Would I realize that our society is filled with people who think and operate on such a sadistic level? I like to think that the little boy who called the strip club his playground would like to think that things like this don’t happen in reality, I think he’d like to stay in his dream world, put his bathing suit on and take a swim in the pool. “Things like this don’t happen in real life…..” he’d say, “definitely not in my neighborhood.”

Last night, I was fortunate enough to be in the audience for the Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band’s concert at the Orpheum Theater. The performance was filled with many notable guests such as Lady Gaga, Carrie Fisher and even Joseph Gordon-Levitt, however, the biggest surprise of the night came from a little group that hails from Oakland, California. When Tune Yards took the stage last night, it is safe to say that the majority of the audience had no idea who they were but by the end of their powerful performance, every single person in the theater was converted to a fan. Unfortunately, not of their recorded music relays the earth-shaking voice of  lead singer Merrill Garbus during her live sets. Fortunately, there’s some clips of past performances which give you a hint of just how special this group is. Officially, my new obsession!

When I first watched The Wilderness Downtown music video from Arcade Fire, I almost had no idea how to process it.

Was it gimmicky? Was it nostalgic? Was it style over substance? Upon further research and lots of debating with my

business partner/best friend, my brother. I have decided that not only is this one of the most innovative music videos ever

made but the overall message that they were trying to convey is one of the most powerful I can think of in recent memory.

It’s absolutely astonishing what filmmakers and engineers are going to be able to do in the new few years in regards to film

and performance art. We are on such a technological breakthrough and very sure we are going to be able to experience art

in a completely original way. Watch the above music video with Google Chrome or Safari. The first one is preferred.

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/