Kings Of The World!

In case you may not know already, the Los Angeles Kings ar...

naw, naw, naw...let's do that again.

In case you may not know already...


THE LOS ANGELES KINGS ARE THE 2012 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!!!1

 Dude, this is like...history!

The Militant can't reveal where he was watching the devastating 6-1 victory over the New Joisey Devils, but later that evening, he wanted to bask in the glory of victory somehow, so he took the (M) Red Line to Downtown and walked down Figueroa.

No, he wasn't there to cause any trouble, and in fact, aside from a few minor incidents, there really was no riot to talk about whatsoever. A damaged newsstand and an overturned illuminated traffic arrow trailer (pictured left) were pretty much the extent of the irresponsible celebrating.

The Militant passed groups of straggler Kings fans, held out his palm and got free high-fives as he walked past them. A few horns honked, and the few that were still out on the streets, whooped and hollered in accord.

Some three hours after the game ended, and the crowds have cleared, the Staples Center, once a roaring beast earlier in the evening, was now darkened save for a few parties going on in the patio level.

The Militant went across Chick Hearn Court and stared at LA Live's characteristic near-seizure-inducing video displays, which bore the words, "CONGRATULATIONS LA KINGS - 2012 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS."

The Militant just stared at those words for a few minutes, as if to have it sink in. As if, to verify for himself this was no dream or he had stepped into a bizarro-reality wormhole somewhere. But...it was real.

As the frequent Staples Center visitor has noticed, there is ia bronze likeness of former Kings player Wayne Gretzky, a man who, though still worthy of his "Great One" nickname, failed to make this night happen 19 years ago, and besides, never actually played inside the Staples Center (to be fair, neither did Magic Johnson, who is similarly immortalized. Gretzky was basically just a draw.

One would wonder which is the next Kings player to be immortalized like that. Jonathan Quick? Dustin Brown?

Of course, this victory was a team effort by all accounts. Still, that image of Gretzky looking across the street has a different meaning now. He was looking towards a future, a (albeit near-seizure-inducing) future brighter than what he was able to see. Because no matter how great you are, eventually there will be someone (or more) that will shine even brighter.

But Gretzky looks happy anyway, and that's all that really matters, right?

L.A. Live, Wired For 'Iron Man 2'

The Militant realizes full well that today is Earth Day, and while everyone is expecting an ecologically-themed post, the Militant asks, rhetorically, "Why only for today?" Earth Day should be every day. He recycles, rides his bike and hops on the train pretty much every day anyway, so it should be no big deal...

The Militant was walking down Figueroa today with an unspecified relative to visit L.A. Live when all of a sudden a U.F.O. (Unspecified Flying Object) shoots across Fig.

Okay, relax, the space aliens weren't turning Earth Day into Independence Day or anything. The object was being suspended by a cable that stretched from the roof of the Holiday Inn all the way to the Nokia Theatre. Whatever could this be?

Upon closer inspection, the Militant and his unspecified relative approach L.A. Live's "canyon" walkway and witness a crew busy putting up scaffolding, an archway and spotlights. What is up? Some red carpet event?

After doing some intense Militant research (okay, so the Militant just went up and asked), the activity was the construction of a movie set, and the floating object was a test weight, made up mostly of sandbags, in lieu of a camera, which would swoop down L.A. Live's canyon to capture
the scene.

"So what's the movie called?" The Militant asked.

"Rasputin," said the crewmember. "Or...Iron Man 2."

Further Militant research turns up nothing for a movie in production named "Rasputin" but there is confirmation that the production codename for Iron Man 2 is indeed "Rasputin."

So all you Tony Stark fanboys and fangirls, L.A. Live is the place to be tonight!

Let's All Go To Grammy's House!

You may or may not be watching the 51st Grammy Awards show tonight, broadcast in wonderful 3-hour tape delay from the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles, but since we're talking about those awards with the little old school music playback device on it, the Militant might wanna take you to the new home of the Grammys -- LA Live.

As the Militant mentioned back in November, the Grammy Museum opened up in early December. The Militant got to check it out last week, accompanied by Militant Operative Stingray, himself a musician, and another trusted operative who is a part-time DJ. The museum, as was described, focuses on the recording process and highlights the history of the music awards.

The museum space is actually rather small, encompassing four levels of LA Live, but in actuality two complete floors, half of one and a tiny portion of another.

Your self-guided journey begins with a ticket purchase from the street level box office on Figueroa, where you're led up to the 4th floor via elevator and enter the main exhibit room after walking down a visual-filled corridor made up of images from recent Grammy awards (You're not allowed to bring cameras or take pictures, BTW, but of course, as you can see, the Militant is not exactly known to follow the rules...).

The first feature you'll likely see is the music genres exhibit, a long interactive table made up of computer-projected images of music genre names. By touching on the projected images on the table, you are able to see a short description and history of music genres - from ska to rapcore to drum n bass to heavy metal to new jack swing to doo wop - accompanied by a few musical examples. The descriptions are more or less accurate, though the description of "electronica" wasn't consistent with the Militant's understanding of the genre, and the musical selections for "heavy metal" were rather unexpected examples. Still, the Militant and his musically-inclined operatives spent more than an hour perusing all the genres (the Militant did notice some bugs in the touch-table interface though; touching "dancehall" pulled up the "bossa nova" genre instead...go figure...).

Not to far away was a touch-screen display of "Music Epicenters" across the United States, depicting a map with not just the expected music capitals like Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago and Austin, but many points in between as well. Of course the Militant headed towards the Los Angeles description, narrated by Los Angeles native musician Dave Alvin from The Blasters), which went from the beginnings of the local record industry and the opening of the Hollywood Bowl in the 1920s to the heavy metal and gangsta rap scenes in the '80s and '90s.

And for some reason, "Marina Del Rey"is listed as a "music epicenter." Why? You'll have to come to the museum to find out...

There are other similar interactive displays (usually with the aid of headphones) that show how music genres and trends affected contemporary culture - from Woodstock to disco to hip-hop.

The rest of the 4th floor contains a (surprise!) interactive display which has every single Grammy award archived (one of the Militant's operatives complained about the user-unfriendly navigation of that one), and various Hard Rock Cafe-type static displays of musical instruments, mementos and wardrobe from music legends through the years.

Going down to the 3rd floor (your self-guided Grammy journey takes you down each level), you're greeted to a mini-theatre environment depicting mini-documentaries of how various pop songs are written and recorded, in this case, Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel."

The rest of the 3rd floor is really fun - there are super-interactive "studio" booths that let you record, sing, rap, mix, remix or master music. No, you can't take your recordings home, but it's still fun nonetheless. Another theatre setting shows highlights from past Grammy performances. Because they can do that. There's also a static display of Grammy awards from the past, which the Militant gives massive props for not only mentioning the 1990 Milli Vanilli debacle, but showing a picture of the infamous 1998 Bob Dylan "Soy Bomb" performance. YES!

Going down to the second floor, there isn't much in terms of the good ol' interactive exhibits, but the half-floor does have speace for temporary special exhibits (currently, how wars and societal events have affected music -- from the Revolutionary War to today's Iraq War). There's also another theatre - a larger one, currently showing how Beyonce got to perform with Tina Turner in the 2008 awards. Then there's the Grammy Museum Gift Shop, which has the greatest let-down of all: Let's see - there's Grammy t-shirts, Grammy mugs, Grammy CDs and DVDs, Grammy keychains...anything missing? Anything you'd expect to buy from a Grammy Museum Gift Shop? How about MINIATURE SOUVENIR GRAMMY AWARDS? Real smart move there, Grammy Museum folks...

But disregarding that, it's still a pretty kickin' place, especially if you love music. The Militant and his operatives planned on spending two hours there -- they ended up spending nearly five. Yeah. Adult tickets cost $14.95, but if you're really into music, it's well worth it.

Best yet, it's nice to see a one-of-a-kind museum like this here in Los Angeles, and in Downtown no less (the entire LA Live grounds have a Walk-Of-Fame-like "Grammy Walk" emblem in the ground commemorating each award year) - especially considering the awards have also taken place in New York City and in Nashville, and the actual National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is headquartered in Santa Monica.

That New Theatre Smell

Last Saturday, the Militant had a chance to step right up to the new-fangled event venue, the Nokia Theatre (Is it pronounced, "Noh-kya" or "No-KEE-uh?" and on that note, is "Theatre" pronounced "Thee-ATE-her" or "Thee-tur?"). It's a stunningly beautiful building, which blends in well architecturally with its next door neighbor, STAPLES Center (also an AEG creation).

It's a truly unique venue, with stunning visual aesthetics, but is it really that unique? Turns out there are other Nokia Theatres out there, including one in that other major US city, so this one is specifically called, "Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live." But it's the largest one in size and capacity (7,100), larger than the Dallas (6,300) and NYC (2,100) versions. Speaking of naming rights, if certain artists ban camera phones at their concerts, what if the concertgoer has a Nokia model?

The sheer size and expanse of the theatre as well as the abuilding L.A. Live complex seemingly turned Chick Hearn Court from The Street Formerly Known As 11th to a true court, which tempts one to jaywalk between Staples and Nokia, though a row of "Use Crosswalk" signs on either side of the Court discourage shortcutting and forces people to head all the way over to Figueroa. The only downside to the new configuration is that in the event of another Lakers championship, where would the large victory celebration take place? Of course, with the way the team is going right now, that probably won't be an issue for a long time.

Though the Militant has yet to go inside, one of the Militant's siblings got to check it out on Day Two of Nokia's debut season, watching the Video Games Live concert on October 19. When the sibling was asked on their impressions of Nokia, the sibling simply shrugged and said, "It was cool."

But by far the biggest visual impact of Nokia is the building's chameleonic ability to change into all them pretty colors. The visual landmark of Nokia's plaza is the set of six pylons that emanate sound and vision into the immediate area. But wait a minute here...a vertical structure...changing colors...bright visuals...an audio system that projects sound towards all directions...hmmm...now where exactly has the Militant seen something like that before?