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Billabong's 2nd Annual Design For Humanity event opens with a custom Billabong bikini runway show featuring product collaboration pieces from Charlotte Ronson, Joy Bryant, Lisa Kline, Jenny Han, Cory Kennedy, and Amber Valleta (all one-of-a-kind bikini collaborations will be up for auction starting at 7pm on ebay)
In addition to the fashion show, the evening will showcase an art show in the Spider Club with original art pieces by Wolfgang Bloch, Chris Jordan, Brandi Milne, Casey O'Connell, Rick Reese, and Gregory Euclide. The art show will also have on display a photo gallery sponsored by Surfing Magazine and featuring their staff photographers: Dustin Humphrey, Peter Taras, and Steve Sherman.
Immediately following the runway show will be a live concert by the spectacular MGMT on the main stage in Avalon, DJ Steve Aoki will take over the dance floor after the concert keeping the party going til late.
A limited amount of VIP tickets are available to the public. VIP ticket holders will receive VIP entry (no line), access into VIP areas and seating, Ketel One ice luge and Ketel One drink tickets.
MGMT Biography
WHO Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser get a kick out of being irreverent pranksters. While studying music at Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut, the pair formed the electronic-rock group MGMT (pronounced "management") and played at the college's notorious "clothing optional" dorm. The set list? The Ghost Busters theme song, performed ad nauseam. But whenever VanWyngarden or Goldwasser weren't on a stage, the two wrote more-traditional songs together, with the aim of signing to a major label. "We were this unknown band, but we talked a lot about selling out as soon as possible," says VanWyngarden. Still, when Columbia Records came courting them last year, MGMT couldn't bring themselves to take the process seriously. "We were really sarcastic when we met them," VanWyngarden recalls. "They asked us for a list of dream producers, so we made one: Prince, Barack Obama, Nigel Godrich and 'Not Sheryl Crow.' "
Eventually MGMT settled on Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann for their debut, Oracular Spectacular. (The disc officially comes out in January but is available on iTunes now.)
SOUND VanWyngarden and Goldwasser spike their pop songs with plenty of grit: "Kids" is a noisy New Order-style synth jam, the acoustic psych-rocker "Weekend Wars" cribs from the Rolling Stones, and "The Handshake" is a funked-up avant-rock composition that doesn't have traditional choruses or verses. "We redid a lot of our songs that sounded too polished," says Goldwasser. "Dave ended up running the tracks through this thing that crushed them and made them sound really gross again. They're a lot better now."
Despite major-label backing, MGMT have kept some indie cred: They've toured a few times with Of Montreal, and the art-rock group's frontman, Kevin Barnes, is working with VanWyngarden on a side project called Blik Fang. "They don't get hung up on having this anti-corporate punk-rock attitude," says Barnes. "And I think it's a good thing."
KEY TRACK "Time to Pretend" This space-rock gem mocks the clichéd coke-and-hookers rock-star lifestyle, over big synth whooshes.
BACK TO NATURE Even though VanWyngarden and Goldwasser have gone straight careerwise, they've kept their sense of humor. The keyboard melody on MGMT's best song, "Time to Pretend," a spoof of the stereotypical rock-star lifestyle, was inspired by the jerky movements of the duo's pet praying mantis. After the insect died, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser kept its egg sac, which soon hatched, unleashing hundreds of baby praying mantises in their house. "We tried to name them all, but they died after a day," says Goldwasser. "It was the dead of winter, so there wasn't much we could do," adds VanWyngarden. "But the praying-mantis dance inspired us."
STEVE AOKI Biography
DJ Steve Aoki has risen from throwing impromptu concerts in his living room while a student at UC Santa Barbara in the late 90’s to become one of the most sought after DJs in the country. Deemed the music tastemaker by those in the know, his ear for music paired with his ability to drop party rocking beats has championed dance floors night after night.
Whether providing the indie soundtrack to his wildly popular Tuesday night at Cinespace in LA (which also showcases the hippest up-and-coming bands) or dropping the biggest party hits at Hollywood’s LAX and NYC’s Marquee, Steve Aoki has become a jack-of-all-trades. Between his daily treks touring the country (and lately as far a field as London and Japan) he manages to run one of the most respected indie labels in the country, Dim Mak (founded bands such as The Kills, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Von Bondies and others and also currently home to Bloc Party, The Rakes, Moving Units, Scanners, Pony Up, Whitey etc.) as well as promote his own nights in LA & NYC featuring any band looking to make it (yes they all played for him first: The Bravery, Bloc Party, M.I.A., Lady Sovereign, She Wants Revenge, Wolfmother, Kaiser Chiefs, Editors, Spankrock and the list goes on).
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