Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Playground of Dreams is one of most exciting and inspiring charity events I have attended in a long time.  When I first met Co-Founders, Anna Herbert and Brian Larrabee, I was immediately impressed by their passion, commitment and joy for what they were doing.

Dash Mihok and POD Co-Founders Anna Herbert and Brian Larrabee

Playground of Dreams (POD) is an innovative mentoring program that teams industry professionals with children to build their creativity, confidence, leadership, and unique sense of purpose in the world.  Talk about giving kids a headstart in life, POD gives these kids a running start or in many instances a good sprint.

Aldis Hodge, Ashley Avis and Edwin Hodge at POD

Aldis Hodge, Lori Moreno, Host DJ, Sebastian St. George, Parris Harris, Edwin Hodge at POD

Playground of Dreams was definitely a playground for kids to live out their dreams of being an actor, poet, scientist, rock star, or musician.  Working with entertainment industry mentors to help build their confidence and creativity, these kids put on the “Coolest Variety Show on Earth,” and even delivered extremely moving testimonials on their experiences dealing with being bullied in school or on being picked on for being different.  Some of the special performances included Vassy, COED, Mosaic, Kandace Lindsey, The School of Rock, and actor Dash Mihok, Travis Van Winkle, and actress Sharon Pierre-Louis.

actor Dash Mihok and Sebastian St. George

Some may say, “Oh this is a glorified talent show.”  No, this is far from it.  I have never been to an event and seen so many people, well over 500 excited, invigorated and inspired that packed this venture.  These young kids played to a large crowd and all received standing ovations and thunderous applause; The likes of which many of today’s Rockstars would be envious.  Needless to say, I was very impressed.

This event included tons of activities for the kids who attended and even a few for the adults.  There was a creative “Time to be Your Own Superhero” where the kids went in and received a costume makeover by stylist and designer Liz Trdatyan and her team, into any type of superhero or character they wanted.

Makeup artists painted masks and lightning bolts and even ombre stripes from purple to magenta all over kids’ faces! Pretty amazing stuff!  There was also an incredible “Dream Panel,” that featured Catt Sadler, Sharon Lawrence, Frances Fisher, Martin Kove, two time Oscar-winning sound engineer Ron Judkins, and talent manager Michael Greenwald.  It was so inspiring and again, talk about giving these kids a running start.

Frances Fisher, Brian Larrabee & Anna Herbert

There was also a Peace Sign painting station with live music hosted by 24 Peaces – a World Peace Project.  24 Peaces is an incredible documentary in which artist Gene Jimenez conducts a series of twenty-four conversations with both preeminent peacemakers and a cross section of “every-day people” from diverse backgrounds and cultures throughout the world.  It was a real pleasure to meet Gene!  It was also fun for Lori Moreno, Parris Harris, numerous kids and myself to get our doodle on and draw on Gene’s Peace Sign.

Sebastian St. George, Gene Jimenez 24 Peaces & Parris Harris

Another fan favorite was a hilariously fun photo booth.  Now I don’t know about you, but, whenever I see one of these, I go crazy.  This is a great opportunity to ham it up with your friends.  Exhibit A – See the pictures below with the awesome Clemson Twins and Yael from Sweet Crush Ice.

Did I mention food yet?  This lively atmosphere included the ever so tasty Sweet Crush Ice Bar, one of my favorites, if you haven’t tried Sweet Crush Ice, you gotta!  Click on their name for a direct link.  They are located in Brentwood.  Look them up!  The owner Yael is as sweet and generous as the healthy desserts she has created.

Yael Lustmann of Sweet Crush Ice with 2 Happy Customers

More tasties: Duff Goldman’s Cake Mix, Village Pizzeria, EarthBar – Wow they had some amazing organic juices and green drinks!  We LOVED the EarthBar Liver Cleanse juice!  Also another favorite of mine was Hint Water – I love their flavored waters!  Other sponsors included Cinema Secrets, Level 3 Design Group and Lacoste.

EarthBar Liver Cleanse Beet Juice

Brad Di Pane & Allan Santana of MayaTequilla w/ Sebastian St. George & Lori Moreno

On the adult side there were two great sponsors: The award winning organic Blue Ice Vodka and the amazing Corazon Maya Tequila.  I had briefly seen Corozon at the Art.Life Art Exhibition in Downtown Los Angeles a few weeks earlier.  This time I got to talk with two awesome representatives from the company, Brad Di Pane and Allan Santana.  What great guys, but honestly their Tequila spoke for itself.   All of my friends loved the fantastic and unique heart-shaped Corazon Maya Tequila bottle design.  Talk about winning over a lot of hearts!  I also liked their creative bottle and stand.  Maya Tequila Reposado tastes great and is smooth!

Allan Santana, Liz Tradatyan, Brad Di Pane, Sebastian St. George & Dana Waldie

Playground of Dreams – hats off to Co-founders Anna Herbert and Brian Larrabee.  Thank so much for inviting me to your incredibly inspiring and exciting event.  I know this was a kids events, but I saw just as many adults having a great time as well.  It was amazing to see so many kids filled with joy and happiness as they experienced living their dreams NOW.  All of my friends and I had a great time supporting an awesome charity and we look forward to the next one!

Isn’t it time you… #LiveYourDream

Stay Luminous

Sebastian St. George

Parris Harris, Lori Moreno & Sebastian St. George

Art.Life Art Exhibition Downtown Los Angeles – On March 30^th, 2013, my close friends and I attended an exciting art opening in downtown Los Angeles – the Art.Life Exhibition.  This event was hosted by Amy Demirchian of EWI Collections where a portion of the proceeds were donated to the Los Angeles Art Alliance.

Opening nights of art exhibits are always enjoyable for me and I was pleasantly surprised at the excitement, energy and the honest gratitude I felt from the artists and from many of the people who attended.

Andre Miripolsky – Sharks of Hollywood and Sebastian St. George

The show was on a grand scale and it included such a great mixture of Art from mixed media, oils, prints and some incredible bronze sculptures.  This exhibit presented approximately 50 artists in an elegant 30,000 sq. ft. loft and what made it so appealing was that it was great to see so many different forms of artistic expression.

Liz Trdatyan & her awesome art – Perpetual Bliss

One of the highlights was discovering a new up and coming artist Liz Trdatyan, whose work showed an almost seemless fusion of creativity, technique, style and a strong sense of fashion, all culminating together on the canvas.  She uses paints, textiles, and even pieces of poetry to convey her expressions.

My favorite piece called Eccentric Muse, was the artist’s expression of the frustrations and conflicts she faced with her own sense of identity and culture, her struggles as a woman and how Hollywood objectifies beauty, hence most of the face in the painting being covered, except for the beautiful entrancing eyes.  The layering and the glazing technique adds a magnificent luster to the painting.  This is a truly a one of a kind and excellently composed mixed media work.

Liz Trdatyan – Eccentric Muse

Sebastian St George and Stuart Kusher – Renaissance Man

Now, moving on to one of my favorite forms of art: sculpture.  All of us were definitely impressed and moved by the bronze sculptures of Stuart Kusher, and not just because of the scale of his works, but because of the time he takes to pay attention to the small details, like the gentle sloping of the woman’s breasts as she drifts underwater in Patron Saint of Sanonofre.  It is the artist’s mantra of ninety-nine percent observation and one percent application that really shines through in his work.  I personally loved the way he infused a fresh twist to this classic medium, the twisted coils of hair and goatee on the Path to Stonehenge, the tree branches and leaves branching out of the head in Afrinesta, and the mohawk in…Mohawk Mafia.

Stuart Kusher discusses the Patron Saint of Sanonofre

Stuart Kusher – Patron Saint of Sanonofre

Now it’s time for a little drink, and what can I say about the spirits served around the bar?  Another one of my favorite new discoveries is Maya tequila (smooth).  The great people at Maya Tequila are rocking with a fantastic and unique bottle design that is sure to win over a lot of hearts!  I know it got mine!

Another winner was Mascarade, a new cocktail blend of French Armagnac, vodka, peach and apricot juices.  This tasty blend kept my friends going the entire night!

POP!  What is art nowadays without representing pop culture?  No one does it better than this particular artist, whose iconic imagery of Los Angeles has splashed all over magazines and billboards across town for the past three decades; not to mention that his Art has graced Absolut Vodka bottles.  Andre Miripolsky has once again created a fun, bright collection called the Sharks of Los Angeles and the Sharks of Hollywood to keep us uplifted in our spirits and our views of living in this temperamental town.

Sebastian St. George and Andre Miripolsky City of Angels

Andre’s Sharks of Hollywood had all of my friends and I laughing!  This painting is a fun, edgy and ballsy take on Hollywood reality.  Where else in the world do sharks eat sharks?  And shark directors eat their own films?  Oh and some of these Sharks are even on rollerskates?!?  Welcome to the hilariously entertaining and fascinating world of Andre Miripolsky.

Andre Miripolsky Sharks of Hollywood

Hollywood spoiler alert: Don’t get eaten by the sharks….., well, you certainly won’t by Andre, whose happy, honest and humble personality really left a significant impression on me and had me walking away feeling like I met a true gentleman, honorable and full of integrity.

Sebastian St George and Liz Trdatyan Art

Liz Trdatyan, Stuart Kusher and Andre Miripolsky are artists that are on the rise and worth watching and most importantly worth supporting and buying their work.  All in all a good time was had by everyone.  Art.Life is a must see event and well worth your time.  My friends and I look forward to the next Art.Life Exhibition.

Stay Luminous

Sebastian St. George

Liz Trdatyan – Perpetual Bliss

The Path to Stonehenge by Stuart Kusher

Awakening by Alex Fishgoyt is a breathtaking and awe inspiring piece of artwork.  Frankly, it’s much more than that.  It is an experience that dramatically engages the viewer.  Fishgoyt artfully invites you to enter his world and to believe in the dream.  Once the viewer dares to enter and explore he challenges you to join him on the journey.

At first glance the journey seems inviting, exciting and as you move deeper into it you begin notice that it is unpredictable, scary and maybe even dangerous.  Fishgoyt creatively illuminates your journey with hope as you cross a bridge over the vast and mysterious ocean to a brilliant white city.  Or how about a long journey down a shadowy back alley where even a small faint light gives encouragement to the inquisitive traveler?

Awakening is filled with many possibilities.  First, you must be willing to get on the ship where there is no turning back.  This is a ship headed toward a gigantic wave.  Will this vessel capsize or will it break on through to the other side and transport us to our Awakening?

The woman is the fulfillment of the journey: a journey that is rich, fertile, beautiful and fulfilling – all that the dreamer is.  She completes the cycle of life.  Welcome to the journey of Awakening – a pathway filled with many awakenings.

Awakening – I was so excited to receive this huge package from FedEx today.  A big Thank You to Vladimir Kush and Karyn Anderson of the Kush Fine Art Gallery for turning me onto Fishgoyt’s amazing surrealism!  Also I greatly appreciate Alex signing and personalizing his work with an inspiring note to me on the back of the painting.

If you are interested in finding out more info on the awesome works of Alex Fishgoyt please contact Karyn Anderson 775 – 997-87 ZeroZero – Don’t forget to mention Sebastian’s blog for a discount.

Stay Luminous

Sebastian St. George

The Beauty of Nature is so inspiring.  These pictures fill me with amazement and awe at the incredible beauty and balance that nature is.  Enjoy these pictures.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
~ Lao Tzu

Here are some AMAZING Nature photographs by awesome photographer Adam Jones  http://www.adamjonesphoto.com/

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
~ Albert Einstein

We cannot command nature except by obeying her.
~ Sir Francis Bacon

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
~ Voltaire

The Beauty of Nature is such a gift we are all blessed with.  It something to enjoy, share and protect for all future generations

Random Acts of Kindness = RAOK

Today is a great day to do something positive ~ something for someone else ~ something out of the norm ~ Random Acts of Kindness

All of us are so much more connected and interconnected than we realize.  This really struck me today as I was watching the little ecosystem in my backyard.  There was Larry the Squirrel going for his acorns and the resident birds singing and flying around around the yard.  Everything seems so perfect and in such a wonderful balance.  I feel so blessed and thought, wow, it’s been awhile since I blogged and that I should really start sharing a lot more.

Random Acts of Kindness = RAOK – I also want to thank all of my amazing Twitter and Facebook friends for your friendship, constant support, and sweet comments.  You ROCK!

Today Let’s RAOK!

JULIAN P. GRAHAM/COURTESY PEBBLE BEACH COMPANY LAGORIO ARCHIVES

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – Part 2 – Marion Hollins was an incredible athlete and visionary.  I would call her the Brian Jones of sports.  (Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones played any and every instrument he ever picked up proficiently)  Marion was a master golfer who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in 1921.

Marion was considered the finest equestrian person of her day.  She also was an accomplished tennis player, marksman, swimmer and even a car racer.  No matter what sport she played she instantly became a dominating force.  What makes this more impressive is that she attained such greatness in the male dominated world of the 1920’s.

I think most of us are familiar with the cypress tree at Cypress Point on the Monterey Peninsula in California.  This is the home of the well-known Pebble Beach Golf Course.  The World Golf Hall of Fame architect, Alister MacKenzie designed the course.  But what is not commonly said is that Marion Hollins worked side by side with Alister to assist with design and approve Pebble Beach, Augusta and Pasatiempo.  What is amazing is that Marion Hollin’s name is not mentioned.

What’s even more amazing is at the time, Augusta’s Chairman, Clifford Roberts made it known to MacKenzie that Ms. Hollins was not welcome at Augusta.  To which MacKenzie replied:

She has been associated with me in three golf courses and not only are her own ideas valuable, but she is thoroughly conversant in regard to the character of work I like.  I want her views and her personal impressions in regard to the way the work is being carried out.  I do not know of any man who has sounder ideas.

Marion Hollins. From the George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

Alister MacKenzie came to develop the Pebble Beach Golf Course at the invitation of Marion Hollins.  The story behind the story is S.F.B. Morse was developing the Monterey Peninsula and asked Marion, who was now his athletic director, to help him develop a golf course.  Marion brought Alister MacKenzie in to design that course.  Together they worked side by side to develop one of the greatest golf courses ever played.  Today it ranks No. 2 on GOLF Magazines Top 100 in the United States and the World list.

In my opinion it was on the infamous 16^th hole that Marion solidified her place in golf history.  MacKenzie did not want to place the 16^th hole at that location.  He thought it was not possible to drive a ball to a green that far across the ocean.  So Marion said, “Let’s see.”  She dropped a ball, teed up and drove it over 219 yards across the Pacific Ocean to a spot where the 16^th hole now resides.  MacKenzie smiled and said, “OK, we’ll put it there.”

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – Marion’s accomplishments are vast and far reaching.  She was a champion in the world of golf as well as other sports.  She was trailblazer and the only known woman golf course developer who helped create three world class golf courses.  She was an amazing person and…

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – Long Live the Forgotten! ~ Sebastian St. George

 

Check out the previous Blogs in this New Series!

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – The Blog Series

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – The story of Harriet Quimby

Harriet Quimby with her Bleriot

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – The Blog Series – Since Somebody you don’t know, but you should – The story of Harriet Quimby was a tremendous success I decided this should become a blog series.  If you have not had the chance or this is first introduction, please go back and read The story of Harriet Quimby.  She was an utterly amazing woman and trailblazer.

Honestly, there should be a motion picture made about her life story.  Harriet Quimby was the first woman to get a pilot’s license in the U.S.  She also was the first woman to fly the English Channel alone.  If any movie studios or production companies are interested, please contact me on my contact page.  I have been developing this for a while.  I feel there are a tremendous amount of women who receive no recognition at all.  Their contributions are immeasurable!  People may forget… but history never does.  And guess what… I’ll find you and do my best to keep you alive!

One of my favorite things to do is research.  It’s one of my preoccupations to dig into archives and discover long lost information or historical data on fascinating people or subject matters.  I could go on for hours about this.  I love People that history has long forgotten.  But, the question is, history hasn’t forgotten them, we have!  These gems are like buried treasure that teach me so much about life, art and the pursuit of happiness.  They are priceless gems to enjoy.  I hope you love these blogs as much as I love researching and writing them!

These Forgotten have LONG fallen off the radar!  Put it to you this way, you wouldn’t even find these people misplaced in the cut-out bin filed under X or Z next to Abe Vigoda Live at the Hollywood Bowl.  Side note:  I love Abe Vigoda BTW – he is great!

Abe Vigoda as Fish on Barney Miller

I also wanted to take the time to thank everyone for all the great tweets, comments, emails, responses and support!  I love to hear from you!  Also if there is anyone you would like to me to consider to research and blog about for this blog series I am open to your suggestions.

Somebody you don’t know, but you should – The Blog Series will begin this week.  Thank you again for your support!

Somebody you don’t know, but you should –

Long Live the Forgotten!

~ Sebastian St. George