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Natural History Museum: First Fridays – April
April 6, 2018 • 5:00 pm PDT
“L.A. Backstory” with NHMLA History Department
TOURS: 5pm | 5:30pm | 6pm
Los Angeles has influenced the growth and development of American culture and technology for over 160 years. Tour guests will go behind the scenes to view seldom-seen History Department artifacts from the evolution of the automotive, aviation and aerospace industries to sports, early oil exploration, SoCal architecture, and local design studios that have affected global lives.
Tour tickets are available on a first-come-first-served basis in the Museum’s Grand Foyer.
Behind-the-Scenes After Hours: The Seaver Center will keep its doors open after the tours for guests to stop by: 6:30pm – 8pm.
OIL: From Basket Sealant to Black Gold
Discussion: 6:30pm
To say that oil was “discovered” in Los Angeles in 1892, or even by the Spaniards in 1769, is absolutely absurd. That ignores the fact that the Gabrieleno/Tongva knew about the stuff for centuries. It was smelly, and if you wandered into the gleaming tarry depths at night, you could be a goner. But it did a dandy job of waterproofing reed baskets. Only in the 20th century did Yankees go drilling for it, and they found it in such quantities that backyard oil pumps were about as common as backyard orange groves. Oil paid the bills for so much of what L.A. became – including the car capital of the world. What geology put it here, what history did it make, and how do we now live with its consequences?
Brian Frehner, Associate Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Brian Frehner writes and teaches about the history of oil, energy, environment, and the American West. He explored these topics in his book, Finding Oil: The NHe is currently at work on a monograph that recounts the history of the oil during the first half of the twentieth century. He is also co-editing a volume that examines the role of technology in facilitating humans’ adaptations to their environments. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and is tentatively titled, “Great Plains: An Environmental History.”
Amy E. Gusick, Associate Curator of Anthropology, Natural History Museum of LA County
Amy E. Gusick holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests focus on human-environmental dynamics, the development of maritime societies, peopling of the Americas, and hunter-gatherer subsistence and settlement. Her current research projects focus on early human coastal migration and settlement and the effect of environmental stress on Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene human groups along the Pacific Rim. Dr. Gusick uses both terrestrial and underwater archaeological methods in her research.
Arthur G. Sylvester, Professor Emeritus of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Arthur Sylvester earned his B.A. at Pomona College and M.A. and Ph.D at UCLA. He was a research geologist at Shell Development Company before joining the faculty at UC Santa Barbara. He has done research in southern California, Norway, and Italy. Sylvester was a Fulbright Scholar in Norway during graduate studies and a Senior Fulbright Fellow there in 1995. He retired from active teaching in 2003. He is the author of “Roadside Geology of Southern California” published in 2016, and a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Seismological Society of America, and a fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Moderator: Patt Morrison
Patt Morrison is a Los Angeles writer and newspaper columnist who has a share of two Pulitzer Prizes. She has won six Emmys and eleven Golden Mike awards for her work hosting public television and radio programs. She also hosted the nationally syndicated television program “The Book Show with Patt Morrison,” and her seminal nonfiction book “Rio LA, Tales from the Los Angeles River” was a best-seller. Her writing appears in both fiction and nonfiction anthologies. And Pink’s, the legendary Hollywood hot dog stand, named its vegetarian hot dog “The Patt Morrison Baja Veggie Dog” in her honor.
Performances
8:00pm – Chelsea Jade
Chelsea Jade has been the recipient of New Zealand’s Critic’s Choice Prize and is a Red Bull Music Academy alumna. In 2017, CJ was short-listed for the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll award alongside Lorde, Aldous Harding, Nadia Reid and Bic Runga for her song ‘Life of the Party’. She was awarded the 2017 APRA Professional Development award for her ambitions in the field of pop song-writing. Her debut record ‘Personal Best’ is set for release in early 2018.
9:15pm – Jamila Woods
Jamila Woods’ cultural lineage–from her love of Lucille Clifton’s poetry to cherished letters from her grandmother to the infectious late 80s post-punk of The Cure–structure the progressive, delicate and minimalist soul of HEAVN, her debut solo album. “It’s like a collage process,” she says. “It’s very enjoyable to me to take something I love and mold it into something new.” A frequent guest vocalist in the hip-hop, jazz and soul world, Jamila has emerged as a once-in-ageneration voice on her soul-stirring debut.
DJ Lounge
5 – 6pm & 8:30 – 10pm: KCRW Anthony Valadez—Resident DJ
Anthony Valadez has been on the FM dial for over 20 years dating back to his college mix show days on KCSN to currently hosting his weekly show on KCRW and online on Tune In. His shows have been hailed by Ty Dolla Sign, Childish Gambino and Julian Casablanca (the Strokes) for his keen ear for new and emerging artists. He is also a contributor to Boston’s WBUR’s Here and Now segments chiming in what’s new on the musical landscape. He hosted 3 seasons of Crate Diggers on FUSE.tv which sent him across the country digging in record bins from city to city with celebrated and legendary dj’s. As a club DJ, Valadez has rocked crowds in Tokyo, Shanghai, London and Latin America in addition to holding residencies at The Natural History Museum’s First Fridays, the SLS in Las Vegas and has opened for the likes of Bruno Mars, Sly Stone, Ben Harper, Little Dragon, Capital Cities, Prince. In 2014, he was handpicked by Jennifer Lopez and her team for her homecoming concert in the Bronx and performed for over 16,000 people. He was voted Best DJ in the LA Weekly Readers Pool for 2016.
6 – 8:30pm: Novena Carmel
If you find yourself in a room with Novena Carmel, it’s most likely illuminated by Novena’s smile and filled with some of Los Angeles’ most interesting creatives. Her energy attracts the city’s bohemian best; when her name is on an event – whether she’s DJing, singing, hosting, or curating – the people show up. But how did she get here? Music. It’s the thread that weaves her story together. Her father is the iconic singer Sly Stone and her late-uncle is bossa nova pioneer Oscar Castro-Neves, so it’s not surprising to learn that the legendary Gilberto Gil showed up to her first birthday party. At the age of seven, Novena’s grandfather bought her a piano and commissioned lessons—and so it began. Carmel’s mother, raised in Brazil, soundtracked family dance parties with a diverse record collection: Guns N Roses, INXS, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and, of course, the music of Brazil. These influences, combined with a newfound musical literacy, gave her the tools she needed to begin creating. But the public wouldn’t hear an original Novena Carmel composition until she was 21 and studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan; that’s when Novena says she caught the bug. After returning from Japan, she soon found herself singing and playing keys in her own band, the aptly named BabyStone. During the BabyStone era, Papa Stone gave Novena a huge push both on wax and at their live shows. Novena then moved on to singing solo; on “Canto Nantoka”, she sings (in English and Portuguese) with the energy of springtime over bossa nova drums, Brazilian guitar, and a vibrant horn section. Her voice excels in the space where Gina Figueroa and Kevin Michael meet. These days, you can catch Novena hosting an event or radio show (Dublab, TuneIn) or DJing a diverse selection of music at clubs, museums and rooftop pool parties from Los Angeles to New York City and beyond. Wherever you find her, just know you’re in the right place.
