“The Joint” in front of the Glassell Park post office/Matt Hartman

Is it a car? Is it a motorcycle? What exactly is that silver, cigar-shaped vehicle that Matt Hartman photographed this afternoon as it made its way north on Eagle Rock Boulevard through Glassell Park? Hartman did a little checking and discovered a similar looking vehicle called “The Joint” by metal artist Baron Margo.

Perhaps The Joint will be rolling your way soon.

By AndrewXu/Flickr

Welcome to The Listening Station, The Eastsider’s dose of must-listens from local bands. Get to know your community by getting to know the music they are making. Feel free to let us know what Eastside bands or performers – in any genre- you are listening to by sending an email to hello@theEastsiderLA.com. Follow Eastsider Music on Twitter for more stories and sounds from the Eastside music scene.

“Hey Love” – Miner

Gold pans. Sieves. Picks. Check. Check. Check. The music of Miner might be one part 1849-er homestead hymn, one part hootenanny, but Miner  is also the bandmates’ last name. The folk- indie rock band is virtually a family affair, comprised of Silver Lake husband and wife Justin and Kate Miner, along with Justin’s brother and cousin, and rounded out by two friends. The familial joviality is hard to ignore and is what makes Miner so infectious. “Hey Love” is the best display of their riotous, foot-stomping sonic exclamation. Justin Miner’s voice is rich, stirring, and echoes for days, trailing from one verse into the next. - Marni Epstein

“La Negra” – La Santa Cecilia

La Santa Cecilia is a Boyle Heights sextet with musical inspirations as diverse as the city of Los Angeles itself. Latino influences are at its core, utilizing bossa novas and rumbas, and fusing them with the likes of rock, jazz, and even commemorating Boyle Heights’ history as one of the city’s oldest Jewish neighborhoods, with a dose of klezmer. “La Negra” is a soulful stew of L.A.’s musical heritage bolstered by vocalist Marisoul’s commanding presence and ability to accentuate both bold notes and those softer, sustained runs as well. You can catch La Santa Cecilia live this Friday June 21 downtown at the Figat7th summer festival. – Marni Epstein

“Pb2″ – Bunnies & Kitties

What Bunnies and Kitties, a disarming name for sure, brings to the folk genre is a dosage of Donavan-esque trills, wilting notes that cling to our sweaters like plant stickers. The voice behind Bunnies And Kitties is Rafael Bustamante from Highland Park, sometimes folks, other times multifarious in his stresses and emphasis. There are moments of silly antics that loop around Bustamante’s guitar playing, though those occasions blend with the rich evocations of friendship and late-night conversations, of love and longing, the two attitudes mixing like rich red ink in water.

Bustamante is not all doom and gloom, what with his track ‘Pb2′ that runs through the gamut of quotes from the cult-class movie “The Princess Bride”, he giving life to the exposition of the story and slowing things down when he needs to dwell on the more important bits, like the infamous line, “Hello, My Name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” - Nathan Solis

Marni Epstein is a freelance writer and music journalist who has also worked in both the film and digital media industries.Nathan Solis is a Highland Park resident who writes about and photographs the L.A. music scene. You can find more of Solis stories, reviews and photos at Smashed Chair.

Follow Eastsider Music on Twitter for  more stories and sounds  from the Eastside music scene.

Approximate boundaries of area that would be covered by proposed gang injunction.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said today his office is seeking a court injunction designed to limit the activities of six rival gangs across much of Echo Park, Elysian Valley as well as a portion of Silver Lake .

The injunction, if approved, would prohibit about 300 gang members from associating with each other in public, possessing firearms and narcotics as well as intimidating or harassing residents within a nearly four-square-mile “safety zone, which would stretch roughly from Coronado Street and Silver Lake Boulevard on the west, the Los Angeles River on the north,  Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium on the east and First Street and Beverly Boulevard on the south.

“This injunction will be an important too in curbing the escalating activity of these six rival gangs and bringing peace to our neighborhoods,” Trutanich said in a statement.

The gangs targeted in the injunction include Big Top Locos, Crazys, Diamond Street Locos, Echo Park Locos, Frogtown and Headhunters.

Similar injunctions against gang activities already apply to areas south, west and north of  Echo Park, according to the city attorney.  In December 2008, a judge approved an injunction against the Temple Street gang that has been active across the southern portions of Echo Park and Silver Lake.

An August 21 court hearing has been scheduled for the injunction.

Click here for a copy of the proposed injunction.

Crime, including gang-related shootings,  in Echo Park  and surrounding neighborhoods has fallen over the years as it has across the city. But many trouble spots remain and gangs members remain entrenched in certain areas.

“I will say, there has been an uptick in gang activity, graffiti and violent crime by the criminal street gang known as the Crazys,” said Capt. Jeffrey Bert of the LAPD Northeast Division. ” They hang out on Benton Way.  I have been saturating that area with cops lately resulting in a couple arrests for vandalism and a recovery of a handgun from a gangster off of Mohawk in the last two weeks.”

Another problem area is Elysian Valley, where gang members are suspected of several recent robberies and assaults on the L.A. River pathway.  The most recent incident took place on Saturday, June 15 when an 18-year-old male was robbed near Shoredale Avenue, said Bert.

“He was walking listening to his headphones at about 1 am,when three or four possible Frog Town Gang Members jumped him, punched him, and took his stuff,” Bert said via email.  “I will continue to put uniformed and non-uniformed resources down on the river walk, but I am really concerned that folks are just unaware of the criminal element down there, gangsters, drug sales, and thugs.”

Fence coming down around Echo Park Lake.

There are a few more signs that Echo Park Lake is returning to normal after its grand reopening this weekend:

•  On Monday, workers began removing large sections of the chain link fence and green screen that had encircled the park during a two-year long  construction period.  Recreation and Parks chief  Jon Kirk Mukri told the L.A. Times this weekend that the fence would not be removed for several months to  protect the newly planted landscape and, according to the Times, help “monitor activity” in the park. But apparently there has been a change in plans, with workers on Monday saying that much of the fence and green tarp should be gone within a week or so.

• There is still no word, however, on when the netting draped over the lotus bed and new wetlands will be removed. The netting was installed after birds began feasting on the new aquatic plants.  But some persistent ducks and birds has found a way around the netting, reports Dan McCarthy. He snapped the photo below showing a duck framed by a hole in the netting surrounded by lotus leaves.  Lucky duck.

Photo by Dan McCarthy

* Update: Looks like that fence came down much faster than expected, with workers having removed much of the chain-link barrier by this afternoon.

Fence coming down on Echo Park Avenue./Martin Cox

An employee at Hermosillo said the brewery would be located in the back of the bar but would operate separately. He had few other details about the operation.  The Eastsider is attempting to reach Kunz for comment.

The Highland Park Brewery would join several other small breweries in the area, including  Eagle Rock Brewery in Glassell Park and Golden Road Brewery in Atwater Village.

Fire crews on Oak Glen Place./Robin Blackman

Firefighters this morning put out a small fire that broke out in the basement of a two-story home in Elysian Heights, according to the L.A. Fire Department Twitter feed.   There were no reports of injuries from the fire, which was reported at about 8:30 a.m. in the 2100 block of Oak Glen Place.   Firefighters knocked down the blaze in about 15 minutes.

Fountain & Statuary, El Sereno | The Eastsider

• The making of a  650-foot long, Echo Park tin can phone line.
• Northeast L.A. residents raise $1,500 to pay for surgery for a puppy named Buster.
• History Lesson: When the Eagle Rock was called Piedra Gorda.

Links collected from KPCC, Patch & Star-News

Weapons traded in during at East L.A. sheriff’s station/L.A County Sheriff

The owners of more than 150 guns who apparently would rather shop than shoot traded in their weapons for gift cards on Saturday during a gun buyback program at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department station in East Los Angeles.  The owners of the guns traded their weapons for gift cards from Ralphs and  Target (no joking).

“Deputies collected 152 guns, includign several assault rifles, handguns, shotguns, and standard rifles,” according to the LASD. ” Those who turned in their guns stated that either they had no use for them, or feared the weapons could be stolen and used in violent crimes.”

CSULA Criminal Justice major Jeffrey Bellismo/Courtesy CSULA

June has been a month of milestones for Jeffrey Bellissimo of Eagle Rock. Not only has the former meth addict been sober for five years but on Friday he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Cal State Los Angeles.

Bellissimo’s pursuit of a college career began after he faced the prospect of either being sent to a rehabilitation center or to state prison. Bellissimo elected to receive treatment for his methamphetamine addition. In addition to attending college, the 35-year-old has volunteered at the Burbank Healthcare Center, SOBER International in Montebello and as well as 2nd Call in Inglewood.

Bellissimo, according to a summary provided by Cal State L.A., said of his turnaround:

I dug deep into my soul to clear away the wreckage of my past … Seeing that most people do not escape meth addiction, I consider it as miracle that I did. Being granted the opportunity to change has allowed me to recognize my value, and to humbly share my life with others.”

Bellissimo has been accepted to CSULA’s forensic social work graduate program and plans to become a professor with a focus on helping youth offenders, substance abuse and gang intervention.

As anyone remembers, the color of Echo Park Lake used to range from a muddy brown to a  grayish green accented by water-logged corn-cobs and plastic bags.  But the waters of Echo Park Lake this weekend resembled the dark blues and emerald greens of Lake Tahoe. Was this new blue a result of that $45-million water quality clean up? Nope. Echo Park Lake got a dye job.

In this case, the dye is part of a treatment to to control algae and also provide nutrients to the lake’s lotus bed and other new aquatic plants, according to city employees who work for the contract administration division of the city’s Bureau of Public Works.  The dye was added a few days before the grand opening ceremony on Saturday. The new, blue hue took some city workers by surprise.  When one Public Works employee arrived to the lake on Thursday, he said his reaction was, “Hey, it’s blue!”

Perhaps it was the combination of the cleaner, colorful water and warm weather  that prompted many kids and adults to wade and splash around in lake,  which  is not allowed no mater what color the water, according to Recreation and Parks officials.

Fans of the new look will only have a  few more days to enjoy the turquoise waters.  The dye is expected to fade away in a week or so and the lake will return to normal. After that, you will have to use an Instagram filter to get the same effect.