Album includes Baker, California and Primm, Nevada in the Mojave Desert, and the Flamingo, Venetian, Mirage, and Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip.
Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island
Will Durham has been collecting and preserving neon signs for over 25 years, and has one of the largest collections in the world. Check out the Nevada Neon Project on Instagram and Facebook.
Topics:
Collecting signs from closing businesses
The main focus of preserving signs
The process of rescuing a sign
Displaying signs to the public at events
Neon named Nevada’s official element
Walking tours of Downtown Reno
The decline of Reno as a gambling destination, revitalization, and what it means for neon
Newer signage, incorporating new neon, and businesses adopting older signs
The lack of historic preservation regulation
Collecting signage from larger casinos including the Peppermill, Harold’s Club, and Fitzgerald in Reno, and The Riviera in Las Vegas
Saving The Virginian’s Casino letters
The Eldorado Casino’s external neon silhouette
The Carson Nugget and Cactus Jacks in Carson City
The dwindling of neon at Lake Tahoe, and The Stardust Lodge
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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island
Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas discuss their trip last fall to Las Vegas(Vegas Strip and Downtown), The Grand Canyon, and Zion.
Topics:
Las Vegas as the quintessential Post Modernist City
Creating an other wordy aura that does not exist in mundane consumerism
Creating something noble or grandiose out of consumerism
Las Vegas as an economic rather than geographic concept
Nothing permanent because architecture only survives if profitable
Vintage Vegas and Neon Signage
Irony of historic preservationist dismissing architecture of value because it is a product of capitalism
The pros and cons of private zoning
Casino Resorts functioning as an arcology or self contained city
Theme parks as models for urbanism
The potential for an urban alternative to over priced West Coast Cities
St. George Utah, sprawl layout, and high trust homogeneous middle class demographic
Alt-Urbanist solutions that seek to recreate those attributes in an urban setting
Southern Utah and Northern Arizona as one of the most scenic and geologically diverse regions in the world
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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Album Includes:
Bonanza Gift Shop
Fremont East
The Western Hotel
Fremont Street Experience
Four Queens Casino
Fremont Casino
Binion’s Gambling Hall
Golden Gate Casino
California Hotel & Casino
Plaza Hotel & Casino
Boulder Highway
Boulder Station
Sam’s Town
Brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Robert Stark discusses his essay Aristocratic Aesthetic Socialism with Matthew Pegas and Giovanni Dannato.
Topics:
A political ideology based on aesthetic principles
The role that aesthetics plays in shaping social and economic hierarchies
The role that capitalism plays in aesthetic innovation
The problem of markets catering to the lowest common denominator
How poor urban planning models lead to a lack of social cohesion
How architectural innovation in theme parks and resorts create a sense of escapism
How Smart Socialism can address these issues
The need to subsidize artistic endeavors that are not profitable in the short term but pay off long term
The impact that making aesthetics more accessible would have on economics and class
Creating a new aesthetic elite
How these issues relate to demographic trends
Roger Blackstone: The Politics of Aesthetics
Neonationalism
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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Album includes:
The Flamingo
The Venetian
The Wynn
Caesars Palace
Paris
Cosmopolitan
The Mirage
Luxor
The Shops at Crystals
Peppermill
Circus Circus
Check out Robert’s last Las Vegas photo album from 2016
Brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk with David Cole about the history, culture, and aesthetics of LA ‘s Malls. David Cole writes for Takimag and is the author of Republican Party Animal.
Topics:
David and Robert’s background growing up on the Westside of LA
The Open Air Century City Shopping Center, the original 60’s retro futuristic aesthetics, and the film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
The recent $1-billion makeover of the Mall and plans to make Century City more urban and pedestrian friendly
The “Westfield Aesthetic”
The old underground 70’s retro futuristic ABC Entertainment Center
The first major indoor mall Fox Hills in Culver City
The Westside Pavilion, Jon Jerde’s 80’s Post Modernist aesthetics(original featured in Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’), and plans to turn it into office space
The 80’s Rodeo Collection, an archeo-futuristic urban oasis model for self contained cities, and the film Body Double
The Beverly Center, the amusement park “Kiddyland” before the mall , the original 80’s aesthetics with futuristic external escalators, and latter renovations
The lack of interest in preserving 80’s architecture
Young people’s interest in 80’s aesthetics and the magical dream like memories from early childhood(Hypnagogia)
The 70’s retro high-rise Mr. C Hotel(formerly the Renaissance) near Beverly Hills
The Third Street Promenade, the first major outdoor mall
The rise of outdoor malls such as Rick Caruso’s The Grove and Americana at Brand and how those are now becoming dated
Future trends, the under construction high-rise shopping complex, the Oceanwide Plaza in Downtown LA
The Jon Jerde designed neon lit Universal CityWalk
David’s joke about the City Walk’s old Rain Forest Cafe and the Museum of Tolerance’s Tunnel of Hate
Westwood Village as the center of Westside nightlife and it’s decline in the late 80’s
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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
By Robert Stark: Originally Published on Alt of Center
The concept of beauty throughout history has been a force for creation, inspiring mankind to reach the pinnacle of civilization. From men accomplishing great things to win over a lover, the beautiful female as a muse for the artist, religions building great temples and cathedrals to attract worshipers, kings and emperors building monuments to demonstrate their greatness, and businesses using aesthetics in architecture and advertisements to attract more consumers.
In today’s society aesthetics serves primarily as a force to manipulate people to keep them striving and conforming to the liberal capitalist system. Advertisements use aesthetics to create a vision of a product to consume; not just the product itself but an overall aesthetically pleasing scene involving beautiful women, luxurious furnishings, great architecture, natural scenery, and music to create the mood.
Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas discuss the work of David Lynch and the parallels between the “Lynchian” and “Starkian.” Matthew Pegas blogs at Alt of Center | Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit of Beauty.
Topics:
Intro: The Northern Lights – Falling (feat. Lucy Black)
Lynch’s Politics: Admired Ronald Reagan and supported The Natural Law Party
Lynch Endorsed Bernie Sanders and later proclaimed that ‘Trump Could Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents’
Lynch as an Alt Centrist
Lynch’s interest in Transcendental Meditation which taps into one’s sub-conscience
Lynch as a lone Aristocratic Radical in Hollywood
How capitalism creates faux cultural elites
Lynch’s entry to Hollywood via connections through Mel Brooks which solidified his role in Elephant Man
Lynch’s cinematographic basis as a visual artist and the theme of Neonationalism
The Lynchian aesthetic vs. the Starkian aesthetic and defining what is “Lynchian” and “Starkian”
Lynch and Stark’s self indulgences in their work
Lynch’s interest in Retro aesthetics: Film Noir, animated neon, Mid-Century Modern, and 80’s Vaporwave
Lynch’s affinity for small town Americana and the theme of a dark underbelly to small town life
How the first Twin Peaks portrays a romanticized image of the town, while the new one portrays a more realistic image
The Great Northern as a model for creating aesthetically pleasing suburbs that implement the romanticized image of the small town
Lynch should design a theme park or Las Vegas casino
The soundtrack of Twin Peaks includes a wide variety of genres ranging from 80’s Synth, Old Western, Film Noir Jazz, and 50’s Rock
How the fusion of genres makes it somewhat vague as to when it takes place
Ben Horne as an Old School capitalist who does things that are ethically wrong yet is rooted in his community
The Black Lodge: it’s symbolism and aesthetics
The philosophy that fear is the opposite of love rather than hate
Mulholland Drive: the themes of Hollywood power and paranoia due to insecurities
Dune: the aesthetics of Dune are more important than the plot
Retro Futurism in Dune: Middle Eastern Archeofuturism, Steampunk, and 80’s aesthetics
Blue Velvet: Sadistic male figures, eroticized rage, and establishing hierarchy through sexual dominance
“Lynchian” themes and references to Twin Peaks in Robert Stark’s novel Journey to Vapor Island
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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Robert Stark, Brandon Adamson, Ashley Messinger, and Constantin von Hoffmeister continue the discussion on the political scene known as the Alt Left, Left Wing of the Alt Right, or Alt Center.
Topics:
More on how the scene evolved, the implosion of the Alt-Right, and the need to create your own space
How the election of Trump caused friction between Robert Lindsay’s Alt-Left and the Left Wing of the Alt Right
How SJW’s have completely hijacked what remains of an Alt-Left scene
Fundamental differences between the Alt-Right and European Identitarianism
The pros and cons of America’s lack of European cultural identities
European Identitarian movements that are economically leftist but traditionalist on culture and aesthetics
The concept of degenerate art and the failure of the right to differentiate
If the Alt-Right got their hypothetical nation, would it be just another boring Red State suburb?
Reasons for right wing hostility to urbanism and modern architecture
How to create self contained city states
The proposed Crystal Island in Moscow and the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid in Tokyo
The importance of having shared aesthetic and cultural values rather than complete homogeneity
The compatibility of futurism and tradition in Russia(archeofuturism)
Russia To Welcome 15,000 South African Refugees
Having people that benefit a society is more important than their political orientations
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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island