#thephantomlimbs

Looking back on 2025

It’s impossible for anything to feel ‘normal’ nowadays and I suppose I no longer feel a connection to what that word ‘normal’ means anymore. In the past five years we’ve had the disruptions of the Pandemic, then George Floyd, then Gaza, and then ICE invaded our cities giving us a small taste of what it must be like under Israeli occupation. The genocide against Palestinians and the attacks against immigrants in the U.S. have made most of us artists sit back and look hard at our priorities and messaging. I’m continuing to try and figure this out as I move into 2026. I do want to share one of my partner Elena’s responses, which has been to create her Citizen’s Manifesto. More creative thinking like this is needed so we can provide truly democratic alternatives as we come to realize that most of the politicians are bought and paid for by entities that do not have our best interests in mind. 

Family

In September, after a couple months preparation, Elena and I moved out of our flat in West Adams, Los Angeles and moved back to the Valley to take care of my mother. Our nephew Anthony, who had lived with us since 2017, moved into a guest house on his father’s property, also in the Valley.

This year we were sad to lose our dear friend James Hazely, who played and recorded with me in the BoyScouts of Annihilation.   

Teaching

I’m excited to share that I was hired at another California community college. I’ve been at Chaffey for over a year, and will be starting an additional professorship at Bakersfield College in 2026!

My private students Phyllis and Alex made it into an art show at Big Waves Laundromat in Santa Monica, CA.  I nominated my very talented art student Alisa for a scholarship to the Idyllwild visual arts summer camp 2026 and she won the scholarship! Congrats Alisa! 

Arts

I played some benefits this year with funds going towards relief in Gaza, tenant support in Koreatown, and supporting people jailed by ICE. For one of the shows, I was fortunate to have Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza accompanying me. In July, my friends Angela and Zach hosted me playing songs in their backyard. They also helped with fundraising for the 2026 album.  In early November, I was invited by my friend Helene Udy to play Porchfest, a unique community event with hundreds of people opening up their porches for music and spoken word performances. 

Early in the year, I produced two banners against the Israeli genocide for the Jewish Voice for Peace senior caucus.  I acted as the character of ‘Lightning’ using my voice, movement, trumpet and house piano as part of a performance at the Philosophical Research Center in a Butoh Opera conceived by the group NEOMA. I also acted as a surly noir detective in a noir radio play, link below.

Some things I performed with links so you can see / hear: My comedy group Cruel Babes in the Youtube web series “Idiots” https://reversibleeye.wordpress.com/2025/03/30/idiots-episode-1/ https://reversibleeye.wordpress.com/2025/04/08/idiots-episode-2/

Noir Radio Play

The Big Busy. 

Around mid-July I stopped most activities and focused mainly on preparing my Color Theory class for Chaffey College. I hadn’t taught this subject before so I had to put tremendous amounts of time into putting the class together, creating materials, etc. I had to stop all my work with Cruel Babes and Jewish Voice for Peace. I stopped writing music. I stopped making art. 

But it wasn’t just the class contributing to this busy-ness.. we were also in the process of moving, as mentioned above, which of course took a lot of time and effort. Not just the moving, but also we’ve been doing tons of remodeling on the space. Elena is still in the process of painting and fixing the fascia around the edge of the roof as I write this. 

The Fundraiser / Album Pre-Order setup

As part of my Karim Shuquem كريم album project, in January I recorded in Oakland with my friend Skot from the Phantom Limbs. We recorded three songs which will be on an upcoming album. I created a GoFundMe after recording these songs to help manifest this album into reality. It’s a pre-order setup with multiple levels of support; the higher amounts are getting fancier packages including the vinyl and original artwork, and the smaller amounts are getting a more simple package including the songs themselves. This money will be going towards paying for the actual pressing of the records and the recording of the songs. 

For those that have already donated, I appreciate it so much. It’s super motivating. For those that might be interested in supporting and pre-ordering the record, the link is here https://www.gofundme.com/manage/donate-to-help-karim-produce-a-record-album

There are links on this site also to hear the tracks I have recorded so far. Great news here >> To further the Karim Shuquem كريم album project I was accepted for two different music residencies in 2026! I’ll be at Jentel Artist Residency in Wyoming this spring (Composition) and at Art: OMI in New York at the end of summer (Collaboration and Experimentation). 

  UPCOMING:

New Shirt Design coming soon It says ‘Karim’ in Arabic. Screen is finished and will be printed soon

January 4th Appearance at THE SMELL

Loto Ball will be singing a Tuxedomoon song at The Smell, downtown Los Angeles, as part of their 25th anniversary celebration and tribute to Bay Area bands on January 4th. The Avengers are set to headline the show.

April: SFV Crit Group Art show at the Makery, Los Angeles

I am part of a San Fernando Valley artist critique group and we’re having a group show in April at the Makery, downtown L.A.

Thank you so much if you were interested enough to read all of this, that’s amazing! I’m very appreciative of your interest and support and I look forward to seeing you this coming year!

video created for Mutant Transmissions fest II

mutanttransmissions.org

Aired April 24 2021

Loto Ball is at lotoball.weebly.com

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video 2021

camera: Adam Boren Bennett // direction: Elena Brocade

set design: Karim Shuquem

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song recorded in 2015 by Haunted Tiger

trumpet, vocals, music: Loto Boll

guitar: Haunted Tiger

video created for Mutant Transmissions fest II  mutanttransmissions.org Aired April 24 2021

Artist Jack Rabbitt @rraddbbitt