First Fridays - January 8, 2010 | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
Once a month, the Museum stays open late, and the adults come out to play.
Tickets are now available
First Fridays goes 3D
Take a virtual tour of some of the galleries, visit our Flickr page, and get a unique look at specimens with your First Fridays 3D glasses. Learn more >
First Fridays January 2010 Gallery
Spiders was the theme for this month. Take a look at some of our favorites of the tour, art, music, discussion, and crowds.
View more >
First Fridays: Get Hip to Science
Our latest installment of what might be L.A.’s hottest, smartest nighttime event starts January 2010. Come have a cocktail, explore the Museum after hours, and get enlightened.
Learn more >
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Friday, January 8, 2010
Tour and Discussion (5:30 pm - 7:30 pm)
Tour (5:30 pm): Meet the Silk Makers with Brent Karner
Go on an arachnid tour with Brent "The Bug Guy" Karner, NHM's Associate Manager of Invertebrate Living Collections. As he shows off some of the Museum's more wonderful, and amazing, spiders.
Discussion (6:30 pm and 7:30 pm): Spiders: The Miracle Engineers with UC Riverside biology professor and MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Cheryl Y. Hayashi
Their medium is silk; their mission is to spin. Spiders are the unparalleled architects and engineers of the natural world, and in this talk, Hayashi introduces the basic biology of spider silk, and shares recent research on its genetics and biomechanics. Despite their gossamer appearance, spider silks have incredible mechanical properties, ranking among the strongest and toughest materials on the planet. Hayashi is revealing key information about their miracle silk, from which biomaterials including biodegradable fishing lines, medical sutures, and protective armor cloth are currently being developed.
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Hear all of the First Fridays discussions on 
Performances (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm)
In the diorama halls are Tune-Yards and Atlas Sound
The Tune-Yards’ electronic folk nucleus is Merrill Garbus, who started as a one-woman show with ukulele, and a human beat box of a voice. Atlas Sound is the solo project of Bradford Cox, the striking and eccentric vocalist for experimental indie rocker act Deerhunter.
DJs (5:30 pm - 10:30 pm)
Resident DJ, Them Jeans (a.k.a. Jason Stewart) and headliner, DJ Spider
Though his roots stem from a deep love for hip-hop, Spider has cultivated his sound to include an eclectic mix of cuts that transgress nearly every genre of music. He’s been known to take timeless hits such as “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, mix in the newest club-banger, and blend into an Aretha Franklin classic. It is this variety and originality that makes Spider one of the most coveted DJ’s across the globe today.
With musical tastes spanning from hardcore punk to dancefloor-friendly hip-hop, post-rock to ambient electronic, Them Jeans never fails to deliver a set with the perfect mood for the gathering.
Art Installation
Art Installation: Gerard Minakawa
Keep an eye for an inspired installation by bamboo artist Gerard Minakawa. The Big Bamboo Spider is a large scale, eight-legged monstrosity built out of bamboo. The giant bamboo timber used in its construction comes from both the Amazon basin and the jungles of Indonesia. Bamboo typically reaches maturity between 5-7 years, does not require re-seeding, and is one of the planet's top carbon sequesters.
Gerard Minakawa, a New York City native and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, is a professional artist and designer based in Los Angeles, California. His first exploration into bamboo occurred in 2001 and, together with his company Bamboo DNA, he has since dedicated his career to creating large-scale bamboo structures and educating the public about the world's most gigantic and versatile grass.
FIRST FRIDAYS IS FREE WITH MUSEUM ADMISSION: Entrance for the Discussion and the Performance Hall is on a first-come first-serve basis.
Tour (5:30 pm): Meet the Silk Makers with Brent Karner
Go on an arachnid tour with Brent "The Bug Guy" Karner, NHM's Associate Manager of Invertebrate Living Collections. As he shows off some of the Museum's more wonderful, and amazing, spiders.
Discussion (6:30 pm and 7:30 pm): Spiders: The Miracle Engineers with UC Riverside biology professor and MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Cheryl Y. Hayashi
Their medium is silk; their mission is to spin. Spiders are the unparalleled architects and engineers of the natural world, and in this talk, Hayashi introduces the basic biology of spider silk, and shares recent research on its genetics and biomechanics. Despite their gossamer appearance, spider silks have incredible mechanical properties, ranking among the strongest and toughest materials on the planet. Hayashi is revealing key information about their miracle silk, from which biomaterials including biodegradable fishing lines, medical sutures, and protective armor cloth are currently being developed.
[In the diorama halls are Tune-Yards and Atlas Sound
The Tune-Yards’ electronic folk nucleus is Merrill Garbus, who started as a one-woman show with ukulele, and a human beat box of a voice. Atlas Sound is the solo project of Bradford Cox, the striking and eccentric vocalist for experimental indie rocker act Deerhunter.
Resident DJ, Them Jeans (a.k.a. Jason Stewart) and headliner, DJ Spider
Though his roots stem from a deep love for hip-hop, Spider has cultivated his sound to include an eclectic mix of cuts that transgress nearly every genre of music. He’s been known to take timeless hits such as “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, mix in the newest club-banger, and blend into an Aretha Franklin classic. It is this variety and originality that makes Spider one of the most coveted DJ’s across the globe today.
With musical tastes spanning from hardcore punk to dancefloor-friendly hip-hop, post-rock to ambient electronic, Them Jeans never fails to deliver a set with the perfect mood for the gathering.
Art Installation: Gerard Minakawa
Keep an eye for an inspired installation by bamboo artist Gerard Minakawa. The Big Bamboo Spider is a large scale, eight-legged monstrosity built out of bamboo. The giant bamboo timber used in its construction comes from both the Amazon basin and the jungles of Indonesia. Bamboo typically reaches maturity between 5-7 years, does not require re-seeding, and is one of the planet's top carbon sequesters.
Gerard Minakawa, a New York City native and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, is a professional artist and designer based in Los Angeles, California. His first exploration into bamboo occurred in 2001 and, together with his company Bamboo DNA, he has since dedicated his career to creating large-scale bamboo structures and educating the public about the world's most gigantic and versatile grass.
FIRST FRIDAYS IS FREE WITH MUSEUM ADMISSION: Entrance for the Discussion and the Performance Hall is on a first-come first-serve basis.