All posts tagged: rocks

Who made ‘Pinky,’ the screeching bird atop Eagle Rock’s Pillarhenge?

Who made ‘Pinky,’ the screeching bird atop Eagle Rock’s Pillarhenge?

Published by Sam Flores

Pillarhenge is an eyesore. Since construction at the Eagle Rock site — so nicknamed after a decrepit colonnade — first stalled in 2008, the only thing that accumulated faster than the garbage and graffiti were the epithets from outraged community members. While many saw blight at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Holbrook Street, a local artist saw opportunity. One of the site’s 36 pillars — the tallest one in the middle — could be a perch for a big, pink, screeching bird. “It was a vision, and I just knew we would do it,” says the artist who goes by Flod and is finally ready to share his story. Flod insists on anonymity because, “isn’t it more fun to leave it a mystery?” Pinky overlooks workers pouring concrete at a construction site known as Pillarhenge because of its colonnade. Flod scraped together tomato cages, chicken wire, paper, glue and pink house paint. “I’m kinda into recycling, so I didn’t even buy materials for it. It was supposed to just give a laugh, maybe last …

“Pretty Ugly” resurrects the Lunachicks as Punk Rock’s most underrated revolutionaries

“Pretty Ugly” resurrects the Lunachicks as Punk Rock’s most underrated revolutionaries

Published by Sam Flores

The opening of the new documentary about the loud, hilarious and irreverent ’90’s band the Lunachicks features the same kinds of devices anyone who’s ever watched a music documentary will be familiar with: a shot of an audience, with accompanying excited murmurings, and then, voices making fearless assertions: “Everything was a challenge that needed to be conquered,” “We’re gonna, like, melt people’s fu*king faces off because they expected us to suck,” “We were literally out there with people throwing pint glasses at our heads and pulling their dicks out at us,” and then: “But we have a superpower when we’re together. And it was us against everybody. It was like us against the world.” You see the back of a leather jacket — if you’re a fan, you know it’s Theo Kogan, the band’s formidable lead singer — and you can see her shoulders square as though she’s girding herself for battle. And then there she is, bounding onstage at New York City’s Webster Hall in 2021, for a pair of reunion concerts that were …

A backflip rocks the rink

A backflip rocks the rink

Published by Sam Flores

Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam celebrates after winning the women’s speedskating 1000 meter final on Monday. David J. Phillip/AP hide caption toggle caption David J. Phillip/AP You’re reading the Rachel Goes to the Games newsletter — a look behind the scenes at the Winter Olympics in Italy. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox. Watching Ilia Malinin skate in person continues to be a surreal experience. I saw him land his backflip at nationals last month, and twice in his first two Olympic skates this weekend. What strikes me every time is the effect it has on the crowd (see Snoop Dogg, for example). The collective roar shakes the room — I could feel it in the seats on Sunday — and seems to zap right back into Malinin’s veins for the rest of his skate. I asked him about it after his first Olympic backflip on Saturday. “It’s honestly such an incredible roar-feeling in the environment,” he said. “Once I do that backflip, everyone is, like, screaming for joy and they’re just out of control.” We’re not used …