Natalia Ciolko

“Celebrities are just like me & me.”

May 6th, 2012

A short L.A. travel piece by my talented peer Hanly Banks.

Tags: hanly banks, los angeles, video
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REVIEW: Alamo Street Eats

April 4th, 2012

A review I wrote for the SA Current on a new food truck park/icehouse hybrid on South Alamo Street.

Tags: reviews, San Antonio
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AFTER LIFE Grand Opening, San Antonio, TX

March 24th, 2012

Last night our friends Katalya & the After Life crew opened their new shop doors to celebrate. Formerly known as Alamo Wasteland, these teenage tranny witches from space have come a long way–from selling their handmade wares on S. Alamo on First Fridays to operating a boutique inside Katalya’s house till now, their first legit storefront. What’s incredible is that all of these kids have full-time jobs in addition to this labor of love. Last night, Low Times performed, a teenage girl did tarot readings and the proud parents prayed no one would spill beer on the expensive pieces or steal anything.

AFTERLIFE
Mon-Sun 11-7
628 S. St. Mary’s

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At The Warehouse

January 27th, 2012

There’s been silence on the blog for the last few months, so let me bring you up to date. I’m now living in Park City, UT, working for Sundance Film Festival, which will be wrapping up tomorrow. It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here for three months! What an incredible time. This is officially the longest I’ve ever been away from Texas, and honestly, I’m loving it. I’ll be back with more updates, but in the meantime, enjoy these photos from behind the scenes.

Tags: 2012 Sundance Film Festival, life, Utah
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TRAVEL: Eisenhower Flea Market, San Antonio, Texas

November 21st, 2011

Items for healing, decoration, and self-defense are the bestsellers. Even on a Saturday, many booths are closed and only the diehards remain. In the far back, personal goods are displayed by amateurs on foldout tables. Their wares are dusty or destroyed but their optimism is intact.

Tags: flea market, San Antonio, Texas
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LIVE: Das Racist at San Antonio’s notorious White Rabbit

October 31st, 2011

Last night one of my all-time favorite groups, Das Racist, played a local dive. The attendance was pretty slim but after the show many a fanboys dream was fulfilled when the band posed for pictures and signed autographs with everyone. My nightlife report in the SA Current later this week.

More photos after the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

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I <3 Radio

August 15th, 2011

After my first year of hosting a weekly radio show, I’m obsessed. Radio is lying on your bed with the lights off, listening to a voice in the dark. Radio is walking downtown and hearing conjunto, malembe and tejano ranchero escaping car windows. Radio is tuning in and wondering who else out there is listening.

East Village Radio, my favorite Internet station of the moment, operates in a glass-front booth facing street traffic in New York City. The hosts, DJs and artists broadcast via loudspeaker to the street. Pedestrians are face to face with the DJs while online listeners can instant message their feedback in real time.

When working at The FADER I helped host The Let Out on EVR a few times, and the excitement was magic. Everything’s live, anything can happen, anyone could show up. The background of laughter and drop in guests make the atmosphere.

For anyone who enjoys music or banter or swagger or all of those things you have to check out the EVR x Das Racist “residency” called Chillin Island. It’s literally some of the best radio I’ve heard–off-the-cuff delivery, unreleased album cuts and pure gold musical selections. You can listen to all the back episodes and tune in live every Friday from 12-2pm EST.

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TRAVEL: San Angelo, Texas

July 16th, 2011

Tags: 2011, san angelo, Texas, travel
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Jive Refried, San Antonio, Texas

July 1st, 2011

Tags: Clothes, San Antonio, Texas, vintage
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L.A. READS!

May 8th, 2011

“…twenty times as many titles are published each year than were in 1980, and we have one twentieth of the serious book reviews.”

Just discovered the brand new Los Angeles Review of Books online!

Such hopes… Dare to dream? PAY WRITERS… to REVIEW BOOKS. In addition to reviews, ESSAYS! Just read one by David Shields (‘Life is Short; Art is Shorter’) about writing, death and calling bullshit on Jonathan Franzen.

It got me all stirred up, like a new bit of Five Dials or Thought Catalog (‘Why France is Making Me Hate Wine’, for instance).

Will I donate? Sounds like they’re pretty tight on cash but I’m waiting to check out some of the pieces from their forthcoming articles list:

•Lisa Jane Persky on the spread of literary tattoos.
•Grace Krilanovich on the kids of suburban California.
•Emily Green on the fine art of the euphemism.
•Janet Fitch on Facebook, Michael Cunningham, and private life.

And if all that were not enough… the staff also maintains their own blog.

Tags: books, digital, literary, reviews
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COOL THINGS ABOUT SAN ANTONIO

May 1st, 2011

Pizza guy at Delivery Market who gives me discounts
Goth/metal kids
Woodlawn Lake
The gay bars
$1 drinks

Tags: $1 Drinks, Goth, Metal, Pizza, San Antonio, Texas
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Brownsville, Texas

May 1st, 2011

We left town before dawn, and arrived at respectable morning business hours. Wandering downtown, in our high tops and short skirts, we hit a few ropasados, ate hamburgers & jalapenos from a shotgun-alley cafe and made it to the beach before 3 p.m.

Tags: #rgv, Brownsville, Rio Grande Valley, road trip, South Padre Island
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