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On Monday, 21 January 2008, the inaugural event for Golden River Concrete Gothic was held in Boyle Heights.

The event featured the timeless Danny Weizmann, aka "Shredder" for those of you who may have known him in the early 1980s when he was doing his punk fanzine "Rag in Chains."

Boyle Heights is an area well known by early Jewish immigrants, as they first settled here before reëstablishing their community in Fairfax. In September 1995, Weizmann had written the cover story for the L.A. Reader titled "In Search of The Last Jews of Boyle Heights: A Cultural Oddyssey." Through the years, Weizmann had also released a number of articles, books and spoken word albums as well as performed on many stages as a poet, writer, comedian, tap dancer and more. Now he had returned—from Israel, no less, after a lengthy stay in New York City during the 1990s—for a feature reading at the newly christined art and literary venue on E. 4th Street, Golden River Concrete Gothic.

Also performing was Rob Shapiro, his music had been featured on two of Weizmann's early spoken word albums, "The Wet Dog Shakes" and "Hollywoodland." (Both are out of print but copies may still be found floating round in CD format; the label that released them was New Alliance.)

Here are a few artifacts from the event. (The artwork featuring Weizmann's work was printed and placed on the walls, the programme was available at the event, and the video is a few moments from the brilliant explosion of a performance that was far too short of a thirty-minute period.)