Vintage LA Natives: Beverly Hills Home Made Skate Ramp in the 90s

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Beverly high alum Michael Nourmand (now President of Nourmand Realty), Scott Amen, Alan Maman (now beat producer The Alchemist), Phil Wang, Eddie Horowitz, Kairi Scott (founder and owner of ShopLikeKings.com) built this skate ramp in the back yard of Howard Nourmand’s house in the Beverly Hills flats on North Whittier Drive. Picture from Howard Nourmand.

#LAnatives: Kairi Scott and Jordan Rosen, founders of ShopLikeKings.com invite you to the launch party

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Kairi Scott (Beverly ’94) and Jordan Rosen (Beverly ’95) have come together to start the new online shopping site www.shoplikekings.com – this Saturday marks the launch of the site with at party at Kai’s store Kingsbury on 3rd Street from 2pm to 7pm this Sunday with Alan Maman (Beverly ’95) spinning, better known as The Alchemist. Here is my interview with my former Beverly buddies and Century City steps compatriots. Up to ‘the vents’! (inside LA joke) Click to Continue Reading

Scott Caan book launch party: “Scott Caan: Photographs Vol. 1″ at Otero Plassart gallery in L.A.

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Scott Caan and his father at Scott’s first book party last night in L.A.

Last night I went to L.A. native, actor and photographer Scott Caan’s book party at Otero Plassart gallery on Fairfax. I know Scott from growing up in L.A. and the thing about him I relate to most is that we both have a deep passion towards our town and our childhoods here – and we both, in our own ways, seek to document them.

I first met Scott at Century City (not Westfield, Century City) where I use to hang out with my Westlake friends and other various groups of friends from other schools. Beverly (not West Beverly, Beverly) was right around the corner from CC, and there was always a bunch of cool guys who would come by. Oddly most of them are famous now – besides Scott, they included the likes of infamous beat artist Alan Maman better known as ”The Alchemist”, Neil Maman, Alan’s brother and a rather heavy-hitting manager, Seth Binzer or “Shifty” from Crazytown, Kairi Scott, who owns and designs for Kingsbury on 3rd street, and so on … It wasn’t just Beverly though – kids would come from all over town … actor Balthazar Getty, singer Jenny Lewis, actresses Mila Jovevich, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Capshaw, celebrity publicist Kari Feinstein & Ashlee Margolis, designer Desanka Fasiska, filmmaker Liz Goldwyn, reggae front-man for The Wailers Elan Atias , and so on … They were as infamous in our small circles then as they are in these big circles now. Something was definitely a buzz in 1976 when our parents were having babies.

Scott’s book thanks his father twice, once at the beginning and once at the end – the man who gave him his first camera, AND an additional camera each year. His father, much like my mom who bought my brother a drum set and a Harley Davidson when he expressed interest, is receptive to Scott’s passions – whatever they may be – and supports his son unconditionally, with a passion all his own.

Scott also loves his friends, acting, making movies, growing up in L.A., and taking photos. You don’t have to know him to know that – all you have to do is look at his work. You will also finds tons of women, children, celebrities, foreign lands both better and worse than here … and lots of cigarettes, skaters and L.A. figures you’d see around if you, too, lived here.

The book’s product description says it best when they describe Scott as “passionate and gutsy”. Who else can push through deals to sell scripts at 23, take on the task of being a Hollywood renaissance man with multiple talents and pursuits and still make it to Cannes to stand on the red carpet with his heavy-weight cast of Ocean’s 11 and manage to shine just as bright.

 
The invitation to Scott’s party featuring one of his famous photos from Cannes.
  

See all these photos on Scott’s website

Women:




Celebrities:

Lindsay Lohan at Jared Leto’s

Dennis Hopper

The cast of Ocean’s 11 at the Cannes Film Festival


Brad Pitt

L.A. Friends:

Seth Binzer (“Shifty Shellshock”) from Crazytown

Alan Maman (“The Alchemist”)

Marcos Ferraez boosts Jay Diola in the air at Oakstone. Scott Oster, Med Abrous, Steve Olson, Alex Olson, Marc Rose, Cliff Cantor, and Keith Kandell seen in the background.



 Book party pictures from last night

Brett Ratner (publisher) with Howard Nourmand (book editor/designer)
Scott Caan with his friend and actress Erika Christensen

Jeremy Piven 
Kate Mara and Kevin Connelly

Scott Patterson and Me

Howard Nourmand is a friend of Scott’s who said to me last night … “Anything can be something” but followed it up quickly saying “but it’s all about the execution!” Howard runs a graphic design company called Grand Jeté in Los Angeles and designed & edited Scott’s book. The book’s cover is good-looking and handsome in that same elegant way a man should be. He also wrote the foreword for the book in which he likened Scott to the Robert Frost quote: “Freedom lies in being bold.” Howard add then adds: “Scott Caan embodies that Robert Frost quote more than anyone I have ever met.”

About Grand Jeté: Grand Jeté is a production company specializing in motion, graphics and live-action design. It is led by executive creative director Howard Nourmand, and its portfolio includes projects for the worlds top ad agencies, brands, recording artists, and filmmakers. www.grand-jete.com

 

About Rat Press: Rat Press is everything that film is not. It’s the biographies written by directors. It’s the interviews with actors and producers. It’s the novels and scripts and photographs and artworks that come from the most prolific individuals in film, but which you never have the opportunity to see in a theater. Our series aims to make this part of film history available to everyone. http://www.ratpress.com/

 
 
 
 
 
About Otero Plassart Gallery:
820 N Fairfax Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046
t. 323 951 1068 f. 323 951 9222 / gallery@oteroplassart.com
gallery hours: Tuesday thru Saturday – 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM and by appointment http://www.oteroplassart.com/

About the book: This book exposes the raw photojournalism of actor/writer/director/photographer Scott Caan, chronicling his work thus far. This series of unapologetic photos is directed at art connoiseurs, young Hollywood voyeurs, fashionistas, and street-obsessed youth. Scott’s passionate, and gutsy, attitude has distinguished him as a photographer and allowed him to compose intimate images that are without question inaccessible to the masses.

 
 
 

Eminem’s DJ The Alchemist, a Beverly Hills native with street cred, hurt in crash

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A tour bus carrying people associated with Eminem and 50 Cent‘s Anger Management Tour collided with another vehicle sending Eminem’s DJ The Alchemist–whose real name is Alan Maman– to the hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Eminem and 50 Cent reportedly were not aboard the bus. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, the driver apparently lost control near Odessa, MO, when the bus swerved off the road and back onto the highway, where it hit a tractor-trailer. After then hitting another semi, the bus overturned. Though none of the resulting injuries among the half dozen injured were thought to be life-threatening, although some victims were flown to area hospitals. Despite the accident, the Anger Management Tour–which also features G-Unit and Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz— will resume as scheduled Thursday night at Denver’s Pepsi Center.

Alan Maman, aka “The Alchemist”, is a hip hop producer from affluent Beverly Hills, who has been hailed as one of the genre’s leading producers. Growing up he was also associated with Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town, Evidence of Dilated Peoples and recording an album with friend and actor Scott Caan.

Al and Scott decided to become a duo named The Whooliganz. While rhyming at a party in L.A., they attracted the attention of B-Real of Cypress Hill. He invited the teens to join his crew, The Soul Assassins, which also included the groups House of Pain and Funkdoobiest. In 1993, the Whooliganz released their first single, “Put Your Handz Up.” The song received little radio airplay and their record label, Tommy Boy Records, decided to shelve their album. Rejected, Scott focused his creative energy on acting while Al became interested in process of making hip-hop beats
DJ Muggs took Al under his wing and taught him how to use a sampler and mixing board. After helping to produce a few tracks for Cypress Hill, Al became the main producer for his childhood friend, Evidence and his group Dilated Peoples.
In late 2008 Alchemist announced two upcoming group projects. Gangrene is his Jaylib inspired project with Oh No. The album was completed in late 2008 and will be released sometime after Alchemist’s Chemical Warfare album. Like Jaylib’s Champion Sound, Gangrene will feature Alchemist rapping over Oh No’s production and vice versa.
He has also announced plans to release an album with Evidence in 2009 as the Stepbrothers. The name was inspired by the movie featuring their favorite comedians Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which also happened to feature the Dilated Peoples’ song Live On Stage, which was produced by The Alchemist. Alchemist is also the music producer of the 10th installment of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars set to be released by Rockstar Games.

From wikipedia.

http://www.alchemistbeats.com/

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alchemist&search_type=&aq=f

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