First Fridays - February 3, 2012 | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
First Fridays Tickets Available!
Missed the kick off L.A.'s favorite First Fridays? We are back on March 2, 2012 with another stunning lineup! Get Tickets
First Fridays February 2011
Here are some of our favorite pictures from last February's First Fridays!
View more >
What's NHM Next?
Where else do scientists, naturalists, educators, brainy historians, and nutty event planners work together to inspire you? Nowhere else. The NHM Next Campaign is transforming the Museum into one of the coolest destinations in Southern California. You do not want to miss this. Learn more
Haunted Museum 2011 Photos
See all of the fairy tale fun from the 8th Annual Haunted Museum "Fairy Tales and Scary Tales" with some of our favorite photos from the event. View photos here
User login
Tour and Discussion (5:30 pm - 7:30 pm)
Tour (5:00 pm, 5:30 pm, 6:00 pm): "A brief sprint through human evolution" with Dr. John Harris
Discussion (6:30 pm): “The New Science of Darwinian Feminism: Evolutionary Insights from Bonobo Social and Sexual Interactions”- with Amy Parish
Amy Parish is a biological anthropologist, primatologist, and Darwinian feminist. For the last twenty years she has been studying the world’s captive population of bonobos, who are among the closest living relatives of humans. The social system of the Bonobo is unusual in many respects: females form real and meaningful bonds in the absence of kinship, females attack and dominate males, and all possible age and gender combinations participate in sexual interactions. In her research, Dr. Parish uses an evolutionary approach to shed light on the origins of human behavior.
[ Read more ]
Hear all of the First Fridays discussions on 
Performances (8:00 pm - 10:00 pm)
Performances by The Soft Moon, Light Asylum, Julia Holter and Corey Fogel
THE SOFT MOON
Coming up on a year since their debut self-titled LP release, The Soft Moon presents Total Decay. Luis Vasquez continues to conjure a sound fueled tempest that intoxicates with its own post-apocalyptic dust in this new EP, which will be released on Halloween, fittingly. What began as a side-project has quickly gathered a cult following that has culled a spotlight in its own right, no longer in a cloaked corner.
After two stirring 7 inches and a full album, it was apparent that Vasquez is digging his own niche, an intimate well-spoken whisper, carrying a heavy load of synths that creep and drums that command an uncontrollable pull from within. This intimate peak into another world, Vasquez’s mind, has garnered a number of comparisons to some of the most iconic and influential bands of the post-punk and krautrock movement.
Live, the band takes on Justin Anastasi and Damon Way to help transform the listening experience cogently with an array of sound and light effects that translate the energy of the recordings.
Total Decay solidifies that The Soft Moon is on its own path, not to be compared. Just listen, hold the shadow of his hand on this journey into the darkness, as he whispers directions through the obstacles, to the light.
LIGHT ASYLUM
At once brutal and romantic, Light Asylum exists in that space where industrial gives way to goth, where the city meets the outer regions under the cover of night. Four songs here that showcase Shannon Funchess and Bruno Coviello’s fluid synth pop attack that shifts elegantly from midtempo industrial dance to subliminal futureballads that are deceptively uplifting when considering LI’s relentless dark sheen. Calling Funchess a commanding lead singer is an understatement; there is a heaviness and attack in her vocal delivery that is downright sinister. This is contemporary synth pop to a tee that comes to life during their revered live performances.
Julia Holter and Corey Fogel live in the Rotunda at 7:30pm and 8:45pm
Julia Holter is a Los Angeles-based writer and performer. Her scored compositions and homemade recordings consist of instrumental sounds and sung text, as much brand new as they are borrowed from work anywhere (Burma or Paris, Saturn) and anytime (Middle Ages, ancient Greece, the future). She has released full-length recordings on Leaving Records, Engraved Glass, NNA Tapes, and Sleepy Mammal Sound, and participated in compilations on Human Ear Music, Anticon/Dublab, and Monika Records. Future plans include a release on RVNG Int'l.
Corey Marc Fogel (b. 1977) is a drummer and performance artist currently living in Los Angeles, CA. Corey performs and composes in many rock, jazz, noise, folk, and chamber music capacities. His solo work is based around spontaneous encounters with sounds, objects, personalities, textiles, foods, spanning the disciplines of video, dance, and installation.
DJs (5:30 pm - 10:00 pm)
Resident DJ Anthony Valadez featuring Mario Cotto
KCRW DJs Anthony Valadez and Mario Cotto join us in the lounge where you can get your groove on and enjoy the dioramas of the African Mammal Hall.
ANTHONY VALADEZ
Anthony Valadez is a Los Angeles based DJ/Producer and visual artist with residencies at Little Temple, Zanzibar and Federal Bar. His latest musical projects include remixes for David Bowie and Ozomatli. He has released two full length albums on indie label Recordbreakin. He is a resident DJ at Dublab.com and has a regular program on 89.9 FM KCRW and KCRW.com where he mixes future beats, soulful keys, and tomorrow's samples and sounds. (www.anthonyvaladez.com)
MARIO COTTO
Mario Cotto is a preacher’s kid from North Philadelphia who worked his way up the ranks at KCRW, starting as a volunteer working alongside various DJs before getting his own show on Saturdays from midnight to 3am. He likens his 3-hour time slot to a “kaleidoscopic Dada dance party” and that’s what you can expect at his live gigs as well. (http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mc)
Tour (5:00 pm, 5:30 pm, 6:00 pm): "A brief sprint through human evolution" with Dr. John Harris
Discussion (6:30 pm): “The New Science of Darwinian Feminism: Evolutionary Insights from Bonobo Social and Sexual Interactions”- with Amy Parish
Amy Parish is a biological anthropologist, primatologist, and Darwinian feminist. For the last twenty years she has been studying the world’s captive population of bonobos, who are among the closest living relatives of humans. The social system of the Bonobo is unusual in many respects: females form real and meaningful bonds in the absence of kinship, females attack and dominate males, and all possible age and gender combinations participate in sexual interactions. In her research, Dr. Parish uses an evolutionary approach to shed light on the origins of human behavior.
[Performances by The Soft Moon, Light Asylum, Julia Holter and Corey Fogel
THE SOFT MOON
Coming up on a year since their debut self-titled LP release, The Soft Moon presents Total Decay. Luis Vasquez continues to conjure a sound fueled tempest that intoxicates with its own post-apocalyptic dust in this new EP, which will be released on Halloween, fittingly. What began as a side-project has quickly gathered a cult following that has culled a spotlight in its own right, no longer in a cloaked corner.
After two stirring 7 inches and a full album, it was apparent that Vasquez is digging his own niche, an intimate well-spoken whisper, carrying a heavy load of synths that creep and drums that command an uncontrollable pull from within. This intimate peak into another world, Vasquez’s mind, has garnered a number of comparisons to some of the most iconic and influential bands of the post-punk and krautrock movement.
Live, the band takes on Justin Anastasi and Damon Way to help transform the listening experience cogently with an array of sound and light effects that translate the energy of the recordings.
Total Decay solidifies that The Soft Moon is on its own path, not to be compared. Just listen, hold the shadow of his hand on this journey into the darkness, as he whispers directions through the obstacles, to the light.
LIGHT ASYLUM
At once brutal and romantic, Light Asylum exists in that space where industrial gives way to goth, where the city meets the outer regions under the cover of night. Four songs here that showcase Shannon Funchess and Bruno Coviello’s fluid synth pop attack that shifts elegantly from midtempo industrial dance to subliminal futureballads that are deceptively uplifting when considering LI’s relentless dark sheen. Calling Funchess a commanding lead singer is an understatement; there is a heaviness and attack in her vocal delivery that is downright sinister. This is contemporary synth pop to a tee that comes to life during their revered live performances.
Julia Holter and Corey Fogel live in the Rotunda at 7:30pm and 8:45pm
Julia Holter is a Los Angeles-based writer and performer. Her scored compositions and homemade recordings consist of instrumental sounds and sung text, as much brand new as they are borrowed from work anywhere (Burma or Paris, Saturn) and anytime (Middle Ages, ancient Greece, the future). She has released full-length recordings on Leaving Records, Engraved Glass, NNA Tapes, and Sleepy Mammal Sound, and participated in compilations on Human Ear Music, Anticon/Dublab, and Monika Records. Future plans include a release on RVNG Int'l.
Corey Marc Fogel (b. 1977) is a drummer and performance artist currently living in Los Angeles, CA. Corey performs and composes in many rock, jazz, noise, folk, and chamber music capacities. His solo work is based around spontaneous encounters with sounds, objects, personalities, textiles, foods, spanning the disciplines of video, dance, and installation.
Resident DJ Anthony Valadez featuring Mario Cotto
KCRW DJs Anthony Valadez and Mario Cotto join us in the lounge where you can get your groove on and enjoy the dioramas of the African Mammal Hall.
ANTHONY VALADEZ
Anthony Valadez is a Los Angeles based DJ/Producer and visual artist with residencies at Little Temple, Zanzibar and Federal Bar. His latest musical projects include remixes for David Bowie and Ozomatli. He has released two full length albums on indie label Recordbreakin. He is a resident DJ at Dublab.com and has a regular program on 89.9 FM KCRW and KCRW.com where he mixes future beats, soulful keys, and tomorrow's samples and sounds. (www.anthonyvaladez.com)
MARIO COTTO
Mario Cotto is a preacher’s kid from North Philadelphia who worked his way up the ranks at KCRW, starting as a volunteer working alongside various DJs before getting his own show on Saturdays from midnight to 3am. He likens his 3-hour time slot to a “kaleidoscopic Dada dance party” and that’s what you can expect at his live gigs as well. (http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mc)