Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important (pop) cultural happenings.
DINE: Dinner in the Sky
Dinner in the Sky is what it says it is: you and a date enjoying dinner strapped to a chair seated at a giant table on a crane 150 feet in the sky. Started in Brussels, deemed safe by the Germans and hovering over downtown L.A. next month. It’s the first time it’s being done in L.A. and it’s at Los Angeles Center Studios, so you’ll have a view of the hills, Downtown and if it’s a clear day, the ocean. Technically not until July, but you need to buy tickets stat. (July 1)
ATTEND: The Steve McQueen Car and Motorcycle Show
Before actor Steve McQueen was the King of Cool, he was an at-risk youth who attended Boys Republic, a school and resource center for troubled teens in Chino Hills. To help raise funds for the school, The Friends of Steve McQueen are hosting their annual Steve McQueen Car and Motorcycle Show, which features 450 classic cars and motorcycles themed off of The Getaway. (June 4)
ENJOY: Star Wars: The Force Awakens floating hologram vinyl
If you’re like us, you might be a bit sick of the Star Wars resurg— Wait, what? I can enjoy John Williams’s amazing score on 180-gram vinyl and see holograms of a tie fighter and the Millennium Falcon as I listen? Let the Force continue. (June 17)
SAMPLE: DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow’s 1996 debut Endtroducing was such a sampling breakthrough it has its own Guinness World Record. The California producer returns after a five-year absence with The Mountain Will Fall (June 24), a more cinematic record with a trippy, funky cameo by Run the Jewels.
VIEW: 50 Masks Made in America
We wear masks, and many of those masks are engineered through pop culture. Milliner and artist Christophe Coppens explores those layers with his new series, 50 Masks Made in America, on display now at pop-up store Please Do Not Enter in Downtown. In addition to making accessories for the Belgian Royal Family, Coppens has designed costumes for Rihanna, Grace Jones and the Scissor Sisters. (now until June 16)
READ: Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals
The first novel from comedy writer Jesse Armstrong — a former writer for HBO’s Veep, he’s also responsible for the amazing British nihilistic comedy Peep Show — shows his penchant for laugh-out-loud dialogue and social commentary on paper as well as screen. This is a road novel set in wartime (Milošević’s Yugoslavia) that manages to be legitimately funny while fiercely questioning humanity, art, culture and yes, sex and love. (June 7)
LISTEN: The Best Songs of June
Speaking of samples, our monthly Spotify playlist is highlighted by Australia’s wildly inventive The Avalanches, who return after 16 years with a sequel (we’ll claim it) the best album of this century. Their new single “Frankie Sinatra” is wonderfully weird mishmash of tubas, The Sound of Music and Danny Brown.
ATTEND: Rhythm and Rhyme Festival
Earl Sweatshirt, Brother Ali and many a DJ are at the Rhythm and Rhyme Festival at the Belasco Theater in Downtown. The event takes over three rooms, and will include performance art and visual works curated by Juxtapoz Magazine. (June 18)
WATCH: Anything on June 24
We already called June 24 the best movie day of the year, as it offers something great for fans of explosion-heavy blockbusters (Independence Day: Resurgence), creepy Nicolas Winding Refn thrillers (The Neon Demon), “smart” films (the Matthew McConaughey-led Free State of Jones) or sharks/Blake Lively (The Shallows). We weren’t done: that Friday, you also get a Zappa doc (Eat That Question) and Todd Solondz’s very loose, dog-centric sequel to Welcome to the Dollhouse (Wiener-Dog).
CONSUME: Sounds Delicious
An inventive monthly vinyl subscription service via Seattle’s music/food blog Turntable Kitchen, the just-launched (via Kickstarter) Sounds Delicious will deliver exclusive, limited-edition vinyl records featuring artists covering iconic albums. No word on which albums yet, but the indie roster doing the covering (The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Mitski, Skylar Spence, etc.) portends good things. (Available for pre-order now)
ATTEND: Summer Happenings at The Broad
Late-night dance party and performance art with Perfume Genius and Narcissister. Yeah. It’s the first one in a series running through September at The Broad. There’s visitor salon a la Mutant Salon at which attendees can get makeovers. Oh, and your ticket includes the rare chance to wander the museum at night. So there’s that. (June 25)
Also: Swiss Army Man, aka the “Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse” flick that nauseated (and charmed) Sundance, opens nationwide (June 17) … Honoring the 50th anniversary of Star Trek this year, you’re getting a director’s cut of Wrath of Khan (June 7), Blu-ray box sets of the original series (June 14) and Next Generation (June 7) and the Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of the show (June 28) … Most influential album ever? The 4CD “collector’s edition” of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (June 10) offers food for thought. And plenty of unheard music … If you’re not tired of O.J. nostalgia, ESPN’s 30 for 30 offers a riveting, five-part take on the murder case and its aftermath (June 11) … Finally, it’s not all about the outdoors. Stay inside and welcome back Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (June 15), Orange is the New Black (June 17) and Bill Simmons, who debuts his new HBO talker Any Given Wednesday (June 22).
(Additional reporting by Rebecca Klar and Athena Wisotsky)
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