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Wyatt Closs
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Wyatt Closs is interested in exploiting pop culture for the common good.
Working as a progressive political operative and public affairs strategist by day, in his downtime, its all about expressions through various arts disciplines. But on a good day, its all intertwined.

He's worn a lot of hats. Several at Service Employees International Union(SEIU) in politics, strategic planning, social justice and coalition building. And more recently, communications, event production, transmedia moments, and branding ideas for the union, bringing creativity to each step of the journey.

Prior to joining SEIU, Wyatt worked on Capitol Hill, for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and then became, in his words, a “hardcore political and communications hack” managing political campaigns all over the country. Including seven recounts.

A North Carolina native, Wyatt has always maintained a steady diet of popular culture pursuits through the years, serving as a contributing arts writer for the NC Independent Weekly, starting the PopWork USA blog about workers and the arts, and founding an urban eclectic events and marketing crew in Washington, DC known as the Madame Zenobia collective.

He now spends whatever other time is left writing screenplays, tricking out his bike, searching for the perfect beat, eating coffee ice cream, and yes, blogging.

Blog Entries by Wyatt Closs

Hiatus Kaiyote: Global Soul from an Unlikely Place

(3) Comments | Posted March 13, 2013 | 5:32 PM

Who's your favorite Australian soul band? Can't name any? Thought so. Now, you can say Hiatus Kaiyote. Except they may become your favorite band, period. Because the only thing that trumps the uncanny likelihood of a Philadelphia-worthy electro soul polyrhythmic sound coming from the Australian desert is the...

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There's a Prize tor Those Little Webisodes? Yes. Meet the Winner.

(0) Comments | Posted March 1, 2013 | 10:16 AM

While much of the hoopla at the Writers Guild Awards was focused on the film nominees as a ramp up to Oscars, the category most associated with the fastest growing medium on earth went largely unnoticed. And Michael Cyril Creighton was crowned king of that world....

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Tom Stoppard: 'Not Adapting My Own Plays for Film'

(0) Comments | Posted February 19, 2013 | 10:41 AM

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Award-Winning screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard, who received the Writers Guild of America, West's 2013 Laurel Award for Film, says he doubts that he would ever adapt any of his own theatrical works for the screen. Having just done Anna Karenina, and working on...

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Argo and Zero Dark Thirty Win WGA Honors

(0) Comments | Posted February 19, 2013 | 9:36 AM

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[Photo Credit: Roshin Mathew]

Chris Terrio (right) won Adapted Screenplay for Argo and Mark Boal(left) captured the award for the Original Screenplay Zero Dark Thirty at the 2013 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday Febuary 17, 2013. The win for Argo over Lincoln in the...

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Writers Guild Awards Nominees for Original New Media

(0) Comments | Posted February 8, 2013 | 3:48 PM

Hey look, there's almost a "Best Web Video about blah blah blah" almost every week, right? Even on TV. But only once a year does that title carry the weight of the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

Created three years ago, this category is a reflection not only...

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A Political Geek's Guide to Understanding Oscars Season

(1) Comments | Posted January 25, 2013 | 11:51 AM

Take note: "Super Tuesday" is this Sunday with the SAG Awards. If DC is simply Hollywood for ugly people, its no surprise to find similarities in how selections get made in those worlds, right? This struck me as I was trying to explain to a political operative how the Oscars...

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Unique LA's Creatives on Display

(1) Comments | Posted December 4, 2012 | 6:10 PM

2012-12-04-IMG_5971.JPGUnique L.A. founder Sonja Rasula. With 350 vendors accepted (out of 800 that applied), 75,000 square feet of space and customers spending around $3.5 million over the...

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Mark de Clive Lowe: Orbiter of Sound

(0) Comments | Posted November 30, 2012 | 3:53 PM

Too bad Mark de Clive Lowe doesn't own a soul spaceship. He could've used one. It might not have taken him so long to pick up all that he has learned and shared from so many musical places. The good part is that on each album and live performance, this...

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2011 Workers Voice Awards Named, Signals Strong Year for Worker-Based Themes in Pop Culture

(0) Comments | Posted November 28, 2011 | 10:35 AM

Can a film about an immigrant father struggling to start a gardening business be a defining work of 2011? Yes. Who was best at amplifying workers' voices this year? Well, with everyone in pop culture pimping workers issues this year (see Jay-Z "Occupy" T-Shirt for sale but not...

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Coldplay and Eggs, Sort Of...

(1) Comments | Posted October 18, 2011 | 6:17 PM

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Photo: Alex Rauch


Coldplay comes out swinging in LA with multiple stops in TV and Radio land. Here, they're at KROQ studios in the new boombastic Red Bull Soundspace there on the Kevin and Bean show....

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Hey Kids, It's the Trespass Parade!

(3) Comments | Posted September 29, 2011 | 11:52 PM

So what exactly is a Trespass Parade, outside of being something blaring and whirring through downtown LA that is associated with the Pacific Standard Time initiative led by a madcap roster of artists, musicians, and dancers melding politics and art? For some, maybe that's all you...

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Staff Benda Bilili: A Triple Win

(0) Comments | Posted September 12, 2011 | 6:47 PM

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Update 9/14: This concert (and others in the U.S.) has been cancelled, unfortunately, due to issues in processing the band's visas. From their agency: "...we are hopeful that we can bring them for dates next summer. Maybe we can reschedule for that time."

This...

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Best Art about Work in the Last Year, for Labor Day Gazing and Reflection

(7) Comments | Posted September 5, 2011 | 1:21 AM

Art at work? Well, art portraying work or workers' values and struggles has been going on for centuries, but portraying work in dramatic or readily accessible ways has not been fashionable of late. There are very few moments where a Rockefeller is hiring a Diego Rivera these days. But the...

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Best Films and More About Work, for Labor Day

(16) Comments | Posted September 1, 2011 | 10:20 AM

What do they know about work in Hollywood? Good question. So this Labor Day week, we take a look at a listing of nominees for best films, tv shows, and other artistic expressions in what are called the "2011 Workers' Voice Awards" from PopWork USA, a blog dedicated to the...

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Miguel Atwood Ferguson: A Different Grand Performance

(1) Comments | Posted August 5, 2011 | 10:14 AM

His stage name should be Gnash Bridges. Because he brings together genres seamlessly with his viola from hip-hop to classical and will have you gnashing or gritting your teeth with his, ahem, mad orchestral skills. This Friday night shouldn't be any different for string man at-large Miguel Atwood...

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Sporting Good: Of X Men, X Women and Families at X Games 17

(0) Comments | Posted August 1, 2011 | 11:04 AM

Know that kid you saw doing a flip of his skateboard on the sidewalk? Okay, now imagine him on it screaming down an 80-foot wooden ramp, flipping his whole body for 50 feet in midair and landing on a 27-foot ramp. While television created ESPN X Games, it's...

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ESPN X Games 17: Up. Side. Down. And All Around. The Hot Pics!

(0) Comments | Posted August 1, 2011 | 11:02 AM

It starts to sink in when you hear a gentle roar around Olympic Boulevard in downtown LA just before very tangible collective "oohs" and "aahs." It's ESPN X Games 17. Full of daring and delight, there were hundreds of amazing performances and aerial feats. From California and around the world....

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A Film Called Quest: A Peek At Beats, Rhymes And Life

(25) Comments | Posted July 6, 2011 | 3:00 PM

2011-07-06-tribebldg2.jpgDon't know much about hip-hop but like a good story? While sounding like a baby boomer droning on about how the Beatles were the greatest of all time and everything else an empty shell, I'm brought to that temptation about A Tribe Called...

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The Car Plays: Real Drive-In Theater in Downtown LA?

(0) Comments | Posted June 16, 2011 | 2:46 AM

Couldn't resist the pun in that headline, but in this case the stage is a car, so it works. In fact, the stage is 15 cars. Thats the number that sit in a parking lot you're escorted to as you wait for "The Car Plays" to start as part of...

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2011 Red Bull Soapbox Race Designs -- Rate 'Em!

(2) Comments | Posted May 23, 2011 | 11:28 AM

Can a soapbox race be about creativity, the human spirit and tapping into the zeitgeist in addition to being an ultimate childlike thrill? Apparently so as today, absolute grown-ups participated in the 2011 Red Bull Soapbox Race with some 200,000 people watching in downtown LA. There's a fuller story and...

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