10 Year Anniversary: Header Illustrations

 So, guess what?  

My blog, Youngest Indie, is turning 10 next week!  That's right, ten years of gig life.  Well, gig life started before this blog, but I will stick to the timeline of when this blog was active.  To celebrate 10 years, I decided to look back and prepare some retrospective posts.  So that's coming soon.  As a preview, here is a look at my past blog header images.

This was the first header.  You can tell it was the mid 2000s by the American Apparel white v-neck, hipster floppy hat, and those red Chloe Susanna boots I was so obsessed with but never got.

As I explored more with clay art, I reinterpreted the original header with play doh and updated her look a little with silver glitter boots.

This girl was used to announce my tumblr, a place where I collected my inspirations and what nots.  Also made out of play doh, and vector clipart camera and flying v.  She is wearing a leopard print knit dress (which I tried on in real life one day while shopping and I loved it but, was too wild for me and only my alter ego would actually ever wear it, so here she is).

This has been the latest banner for a long time now.  I felt that a black leather jacket was the best representation of me and my blog.  This is a vector illustration I did on Adobe Illustrator.

Endless rain, fall on my heart

Finally went to check out the Rain Room!  I remember last year when the exhibit opened here, I was sitting at my desk at work, and looking for tickets during my lunch break.  But the weekend times were mostly sold out for months.  So I just kinda gave up because life got so busy anyways.  Then my friend reminded me and said she had wanted to go see it.  So this time we forced ourselves to find and pick a date.  I went earlier this week, but we bought these tickets two months in advance.  This installation is at LACMA and is a separate ticketed event, meaning a general admission to LACMA will not get you into the Rain Room.  Tickets can be purchased online and a time slot must be selected as the exhibit has capacity rules to make sure everyone gets the full experience.  

We read reviews before going, so we were a little prepared.  Meaning: light colored clothing is recommended for the sensors to work better.  No shiny material clothing, no high heels, etc.  You get a full tips email from LACMA before you visit if you did purchase advance tickets.

 I believe the Rain Room is ending soon and tickets are limited or sold out.  Please check LACMA.org for more info.

Rain Room was pretty cool.  I'm glad I got to experience it.  You get 15 minutes in there.  We got a little wet at times but not soaked.  The rain is pouring, not sprinkling.  They say to put your arms out first for the sensor to start working, then walk slow like a zombie (if you don't want to get soaked).  A few big raindrops here and there could be felt at times, but other times, it felt really surreal.  It's like you have an umbrella over you, but you don't.  So you can see the rain pouring around you as you walk around. 

 Tickets to the Rain Room includes general admission to other LACMA exhibits.  We went to see Picasso and His Printers.  (No photos allowed).  

And we also checked out CARtoons: Art of America's Car Culture.

Museum tip: Make sure to pick up a Today At LACMA pamphlet at the box office to see what's on view and where. 

Yes, October is almost over, but we got a little heat wave over here in L.A.  This happened to be the hottest day this week.  Temps went up to 97 degrees F!  But since it is fall, it felt very dry, so it was bearable (for a native Angeleno anyway).

After the museum, we drove over to 3rd Street and had late lunch at Toast Bakery Cafe.  The food was good.  We even got a complimentary peanut butter chocolate cupcake!  That made my day.  I haven't been out in a while and this outing was very much needed for the mental and soul.

  

House of Blues Sunset Strip, I Will Remember You

Earlier this year, I drove out to Sunset Blvd to take pictures of what was left of the House of Blues before the demolition.  This place holds a special place in my heart because of all the memories I made here.  And to think that they were closing and just tearing it down to make way for luxury hotels and condos just made me sad.  

Rewind back to 2004.  It was an exciting time.  I got my first real gig as an Assistant Designer at a well known fashion company.  One fine day, I scored tickets to see JET at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.  It was my first time at this venue.  We made the mistake of parking at valet because it took forever to leave after the show.  A good mistake, as we were able to learn, and after that we parked at a nearby lot every time we came to see a show here.  Sloan opened for JET.  Jet was amazing and had so much swag and style.  It was ridiculous.  I couldn't stop thinking about it on my drive home.

Another memorable show I saw there was in May 2005.  AP Magazine was having an anniversary show, and the lineup was: The Like, Transplants, and My Chemical Romance.  Yup.  I still remember this show so well, the outfit I wore, the way I felt walking to the venue.  One of my favorite memories.  Also, in 2010, I got to go to the MCR record release show for Danger Days.  This was wild and truly special.  I danced and moshed my way through the crowd so hard that my buckle on my boot was broken by the end.

Oh, I forgot to mention, this was the early 2000s and House of Blues had a very strict no camera policy!   Digital cameras were small, but still expensive.  Pre-iphone cameras and major social media. They would check our bags at entry and if you had a camera, forget about it!  If you were able to sneak it in, once you started snapping away, security was bound to make their way to you and throw you out.  So, in other words, there is no over-documentation of these shows.  They are in my head and in my heart.

Some of the other bands I got to see here were: Dashboard Confessional, The Lashes, Social Distortion.  There are more, but I can't think right now.  Anyways, what I want to say is thank you House of Blues for some of the best and most important shows of my life.

Nothing else matters

So close no matter how far

Couldn't be much more from the heart

Forever trusting who we are

And nothing else matters

Mister Blue Sky

 

A perfect sunny day in Los Angeles.  This was last weekend.  Today it's much cooler and feels like fall.  I'm wearing my hoodie as I blog.  Quick weekend recap.  Not much of a weekend.  I did manage to get out for lunch.  Went to Commissary because I love their Shrimp Po Boy.  Tried to take some photos for this blog that is just so quiet now.  Anyways, the rest of the weekend, I just worked.  I've been extremely exhausted and dreaming of a vacation and rest lately.  But no signs of slowing down yet.