Swing House Studios—a Hollywood studio where artists from Marilyn Manson to Shakira, Red Hot Chili Peppers to Maroon 5 have rehearsed and recorded—launched Dirty Lights.  This group photography exhibition featured names from LA’s writers, directors, musicians, and photographers:  Piper Ferguson, Michael Tighe, Paul Solet, Joseph Llanes, Jason Alvino, Neal Casal, William Rot, Tamar Levine, David Uzzardi, Emma Garr, Andy Dick, Eliot Lee Hazel, and Matthew Libatique.  Dirty Lights is an apt name for this collaborative show, with its haunting, edgy, beautiful, somber, and charged stills.

The bands Dirty Eyes and Gliss were also there to perform.  Dirty Eyes started off the night with punk songs and a rad wardrobe to match.  The trio that makes up Gliss gave us ambient and surreal sounds; I give them props—in spite of feedback issues, they kept calm and kept going on.  The music definitely reflected the vibe of the art, rock n’ roll frenzy next to dreamy, otherworldly moments.

What made the night of art and music even better was helping a good cause.  A portion of the proceeds benefitted Pablove Shutterbugs, a program of the Pablove Foundation.  Pablove Shutterbugs is a unique hospital program that teaches photography to children living with cancer.

If you missed the show but would still like to see the photography, the exhibit will still be up at Swing House for about another month (via appointment). Swing House Studios, 7175 Willoughby Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046, (323) 850-4990.