My 50 Shades of Black show opened Wed. night and the turnout was amazing. I was honored to have so many great people come to the show, including musicians Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat and Fugazi, Chuck Dukowski from Black Flag, Flea, Matt Sorum from Guns ‘n’ Roses and the Cult, Moby, Clem Burke and Frank Infante from Blondie, Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Operation Ivy, London May from Samhain, Everlast and Danny Boy from House of Pain, and Steve Depace from Flipper. The music component of the evening was amazing starting off with The Shrine making ear drums bleed with their Black Flag meets Black Sabbath strain of skate rock heaviness. They are westside skate punks, so it was great to see O.G. icons Jeff Ho and Jim Muir from Zephyr and Dogtown at the show. Next up was my friend, collaborator, and favorite DJ…. Z-Trip. Z-Trip added some fresh mixes to the amazing music he put together for my SOUND & VISION show, and to top it off, he brought out a special guest named LL Cool J! LL is the coolest guy and he crushed us all like jellybeans running through “Mama Said Knock You Out”, “I’m Bad”, and “Rock the Bells”. Those are possibly my three favorite songs of his, so I was blown away to have Z-Trip and LL Cool J performing them together in my gallery parking lot! The show (art and music) was a huge production so a big thanks to Dan Flores, Lorrie Boula, Erica Overskei, Kevin Abrantes, and the rest of our staff for making it happen. Thanks to Jon Furlong for the great photos too. The show is up for a month, so if you couldn’t get in to the opening stop by! My favorite records are there to listen to. -Shepard Photos by Jon Furlong