Los Angeles Visionaries Association hosts cultural event Sunday

On 6/27 LAVA flows in Downtown LA with cultural demonstrations on recycled fabric fashion and Golden Age character actors

WHAT: On Sunday, June 27, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the monthly Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria at 648 South Broadway (noon-2pm)

SALON INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/salon610

Launched in February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the founding Director and Curator of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk non-profit--the creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is already making a splash with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of Visionary contributors.

LAVA's Sunday Salon is fast becoming one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking. The Sunday Salon returns to Clifton's Cafeteria on Sunday, June 27 from noon-2pm, and all are welcome to dine together and socialize, or attend two different presentations by LAVA Visionaries.

6/27 SALON PRESENTATION #1)
From 12:30pm-1pm, fashion designer and avid recycler A. LAURA BRODY presents REMAKE, REDO AND REUSE. While it may sound a little cliché today, it was necessary for survival after the Great Depression and became a catch phrase during the rationing of WWII. Pushing consumerism during the '50s made this notion unfashionable, and it has only recently come into fashion again. Unfortunately, it is often just that-fashion and a notion, not actual re-purposing or re-use. Here's a way to experience actual, non-damaging to the environment re-purposing firsthand --on your body.

Visionary A. Laura Brody will demonstrate live draping on a willing volunteer or volunteers, showing methods of creating clothing from existing scraps, fabrics and old clothing. The materials used will be the donated, left over and found remnants from her live draping Hollywood Fringe Festival event, Presque Prêt a Porter. The lucky mannequin/person will get a custom draped piece of clothing created just for him or her at the LAVA Salon. She'll also display examples of her re-purposed art and jewelry designs.

A. Laura Brody is a professional costume designer. Working for the entertainment industry exposes her to a disgusting amount of waste. To counter this (and as a matter of personal belief) she regularly re-uses material, notions, scraps and ideas in her designs, jewelry and art. For more info, visit her Etsy jewelry shop at http://dreamsbymachine.etsy.com and her art site at http://www.dreamsbymachine.com .

6/27 SALON PRESENTATION #2)
From 1:15-2pm, enjoy a table discussion hostedby Visionary MANNY PACHECO, the award-winning author of "Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History," which tells America's story through the eyes of character actors. Pacheco is a 30-year Southern California radio and television personality who has appeared on Emmy-winning programs including NBC's "Santa Barbara" and KCOP's "In Studio." At the LAVA Salon, he'll share fascinating stories from Hollywood's Golden Age. Looking at character actorsLionel Barrymore, Van Heflin, Walter Brennan, Claude Rains, and Basil Rathbone, one sees how America's story was told through the movies during the Studio Era.

Manny will also share his travels on what it took to get his book self-published. He will motivate you to start writing about your passions and provide a step-by-step outline for bypassing the traditional East Coast elite in the publishing industry to get your inner-author out and into the hands of an eager public. Whether you are a first-time writer or established scribe, you will want to listen to his motivating approach. You won't want to miss a chance to meet the friendly and approachable Manny Pacheco, and check out his new book "Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History." For more information about Manny Pacheco, visit http://www.forgottenhollywood.com/

ABOUT PREVIOUS LAVA SALONS: In March, the new LAVA community came together in the first monthly Sunday Salon for the debut exhibition of Visionary GENE SCULATTI's outsider art scroll drawings of imaginary cities, a smash hit for the nearly 100 cultural explorers in attendance, and now under developmentas a documentary film. And in May, vintage cosmetics packaging collector JOAN RENNER captivated the crowd with a discussion of the social and cultural context of 20th century cosmetics, illustrated with a display of exquisite Art Deco and Art Nouveau powder boxes from her collection. Photos from these recent Salons are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623729484726/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157624174080520/

ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring it in their work. Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM COOPER --proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and until recently the Director and Curator of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk -- LAVA brings together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers. The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, avant garde fashion maven A. LAURA BRODY, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker and festival promoter ALLISON ANDERS, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 826LA events manager CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, green sculptor DONALD GIALANELLA, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, documentarian and exploitation film historian ELIJAH DRENNER, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD, pop critic andoutsider artist GENE SCULATTI, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, theater director HOLLY WITHAM, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, musician and composer of silent film scores JIMI CABEZA DE VACA, social historian JOAN RENNER, journalist and author JOHN BUNTIN, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, esoteric scholar and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, author and broadcaster MANNY PACHECO, President of the new LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes MIGUEL ANGEL CORZO, poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, ,theater director NICHOLAS HOSKING, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, 3-D photography expert RAY 3D ZONE, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, Boyle Heights ghost hunter SARAH TROOP, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, Warhol star and writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, and hat designer and multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON.

Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at http://lavatransforms.org/apply

To learn more about LAVA, please visit http://www.lavatransforms.org