More DVDs

We just got in these DVDs too:

Nikkatsu Noir - Japanese crime films from the 50s by the Nikkatsu srudios
Jeanne Dielman - Cantal Ackerman details the daily routine of a middle aged widow (French)

We also have Billy The Kid, a documentary following a 15-year-old around small town Maine: "I'm not black, I'm not white, not foreign, just different in the mind. Different brains, that's all." Includes instrumental soundtrack by Guy Blakeslee of Entrance, bonus short film by director Jennifer Venditti, and 8-page booklet with an essay by Miranda July. I cannot recommend this film enough.

Art Auction for Healthcare

Anders Nilsen has put together an online auction. Proceeds will go to national advocacy groups like Howard Dean's Democracy for America and Health Care for America. Amongst original art from Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Phil Elverum, Lynda Barry, and many more, I have up a page of original art and an unread copy of Kramers Ergot 4.
go here for the full list, and buy knowing its for an important cause.

No Age Live Score w/ The Bear

(no photo because blogger is goddamn heartless horse)

This Sunday, August 30th at 8pm and 10 pm
at The Cinefamily
L.A.-based, world-renowned experimental noise pop duo No Age are playing live at the Cinefamily to perform their brand-new score for Jean-Jacques Annaud's awesome 1988 film The Bear, a near-wordless expedition deep into the savagery and tenderness of the animal kingdom. Told from the titular species' point of view, The Bear chronicles the journey of an orphan bear cub and a lone adult bear banding together to avoid two human hunters. Along the way, director Annaud has great fun with the storytelling possibilities from a non-human perspective, including dream sequences and an unforgettable psychdelic mushroom bear trip! With nearly no (human) dialogue, the film easily lends itself to live scoring, and No Age drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall have crafted a shimmering 90-minute set of sonic blasts and delicate textures that perfectly complement the peculiar, touching and altogether unique experience that is The Bear.
TIX HERE

NEW STUFF!

For those outside of LA, any of these can be shipped! Just email: familylosangeles@hotmail.com

-'Read Hard' collection of essays from The Believer magazine. Includes writing on CHARLES PORTIS, WG SEBALD, NATHANAEL WEST, MANNY FARBER and more by contemporary writers like HEIDI JULAVITZ, RICK MOODY, ED PARK, WILLIAM VOLLMANN, SAM LIPSYTE, JONATHAN LETHEM etc. And writings on other stuff like surf shops on Huntington Beach, and bad neighborhoods in Chicago

-Pillowcase Set by MIRANDA JULY. Two soft pillowcases emblazoned with "Here you will dream of people you admire exposing your fraudulence" and "Here you will dream of endless kissing". Includes Miranda July issue of Mono.Kultur zine with poster

-Pillowcase Set by SHOBOSHOBO of France. Two soft pillowcases featuring 36 monsters

-Back in! Copies of NICHOLAS HAGGARD'S stunning photo zine with Cederteg!

-'Wendy and Lucy' DVD by KELLY REICHARDT, based on a short story by JON RAYMOND

-'First, Jay Comes' by TAKASHI HOMMA. Color zine of snow photos & paintings in an edition of 500

-Two new novels through Mcsweeneys! 'The Convalescent' by JESSICA ANTHONY, and 'Fever Chart' by BILL COTTER featuring cover art by RON REGE JR

-'A Day In The Life Of...' By OLA RINDEL. Zine of photographs signed & hand numbered in an edition of 300

-New SILK FLOWERS record on LP and CD

-'Zeitoun', the new novel by DAVE EGGERS. Our copies are signed! "When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared."

-New 'Minus Times'. Zine including fiction, interviews, and netflix suggestions. Contributors: DAVE EGGERS, HARMONY KORINE, NEIL HAGERTY, PAT DEWITT, DAVID BERMAN, WELLS TOWER, SAM LIPSYTE, DV DEVINCENTIS, more, more

-Jack Survives by JERRY MORIARTY. Series of short painted comics vignettes about the artist's father's life in the '40s

-'Cinemad' - 2009 Short Film Almanac. DVD of experimental films by ANIMAL CHARM, BRUCE CONNOR, BILL MORRISON and many more. Includes a 60 page booklet!

-SOL LEWITT - 100 views. Retrospective monograph on the great wall drawer. Including short texts by 100 rulers including STEVE REICH, JOHN BALDASSARI, AA BRONSON, DAN GRAHAM, LAWRENCE WEINER and, um, 95 others

-The Portable February, hardcover book of drawings, comics, and gags by poet, Silver Jew, prophet DAVID BERMAN

-NITE JEWEL brand new 12" single, Want You Back! On Italians Do It Better

-Uptight no 3, new issue by JORDAN CRANE

-Mountain Fold, issue 2. Music zine from Australia featuring THE DEAD C, WOODS, CIRCLE PIT, PHILIP BROPHY and more!

- LOCAS 2. The classics from JAIME HERNANDEZ just reissued!

-Zine/poster by photographer MARCELO GOMES by Sleeves Commonwealth Press

-Multiforce by MATT BRINKMAN. Yes, that old, incredible work is back in print, oversized and cheap as chips

-Boody, the bizarre comics of BOODY ROGERS from the 40s and 50s!

-'IMPERIAL' a new one by WILLIAM VOLLMANN. Over 1300 pages!!! Vollmann spent much of the past ten years in the harsh desert borderlands of southeastern California and northern Mexico he calls Imperial, listening to lettuce farmers, motel clerks, and dance-hall hostesses; and crossing the border hundreds of times (while meeting those who cross via other means, and those who try to stop them)

-Gigantic Robot. Newest comic from the UK's TOM GAULD, a real motherfucker

-Tall black and white zine from ASHLEY SNOW MACOMBER, 'We Are What We Are Not'

-Topological Gardens, new monograph by BRUCE NAUMAN

-'Pee Dog'! A vintage “graphic novel” from 1986 by Ed Nukey Nukes and Jocko Levent Brainiac, two crazed Texans artists related to another artist PictureBox published whose name rhymes with SHMARY CANTER (first name Gary)

This list is only a mere glimpse at the superabundance of items we have! Please join us!

Lance Bangs Rules

For over a year Lance Bangs followed us about whenever he was in town, putting together a documentary portrait of the store and associated folk. We were really honored to have Lance do this. He's an amazing filmmaker, who's done superb music videos for Sonic Youth, The Shins, Belle and Sebastian, Pavement, Kanye West etc. He's also a great story teller and has a great collection of visors. He's now shooting a documentary in Zambia.

Here's his Belle and Sebastian video:



Lance's show on VBS is here:BANGS

Lance also does all those amazing behind the scenes documentaries on Spike Jonze's films (watch this all the way to the end):



Family portrait is here:



And here:



Here is bonus footage on the store:

Auto De Fe Live Instore at Family!

Sunday, August 23, 7:30

Auto Da Fe play songs from the upcoming LP 'Emit Time' and sprinkle in some reworked Chinese classical pieces for good measure. Pan-global instrumentation includes yang qin, guzheng, tambur, bouzouki, tablas, wood marimba, balalaika, handmade electric zithers, Gothic harp, Chinese banjo, Tibetan temple cymbals and bells as well as traditional guitar, bass, trumpet, and drums.

Listen to them here

Auto Da Fe was formed out of Amps For Christ practices by Tara Tavi, Martin Kvisvic, and Joel Connell. The CD "The Spectre" was released in May, 2006 on Secret Eye Recordings. A comp track was on "False Object Sensors", put out by Vermiform Records in 2001. Leandra Gil is on percussion. Erin Barnes occasionally plays hurdy gurdy, cello and frame drums.

From allmusic:
Using a brilliantly mismatched arsenal of traditional instruments, the two of them shatter cultural and political frontiers. Through the course of the 18 tracks on The Spectre, the listener is treated to guzheng (a Chinese zither), Tibetan cymbals, tambur, balalaika (a Russian lute), bouzouki, and various bowed instruments, in addition to gothic harp, tablas (performed by guest musicians), and more conventional (i.e., Western) instruments.

The songs mimic folk styles to add to the cultural confusion. For instance, "Past Times" sounds very much like an old English song, except that Tavi's voice is backed by guzheng. Following a similar logic, "Ne'er Do Will" could be a skip-rope rhyme, "Huar Weishenme" could be a Jewish lament, and "The Spectre" might be a frantic Eastern European instrumental tune.

But the instrumentation always sends such issues out the window. What is left is this duo's unbridled creativity, their knowledgeable disregard toward tradition, and Tara Tavi's voice, at times charming, haunting, or scary.

Several guests contribute to the sound palette, including members of Man Is the Bastard. The overall attitude is definitely that of the underground folk scene, but ignores its improvisational/jam aspect; The Spectre is thoroughly composed and focuses on catchy -- if unpredictably arranged -- tunes. A find to treasure and one of the truly surprising albums of 2006.

FINALLY

It was a great surprise to walk in to open the shop this morning and see that Husbands by John Cassavetes has finally been released on DVD and that we have them here. And yes it has the 11 minutes of footage they cut from the theatrical release, get stoked.