Pablo Avion

Pablo Avion (born Pablo Lopez, also aka Paul Avion or Pablo Van Arsdalen, a native of New Orleans, LA) is a musician, occasional comedian, and writer from Los Angeles, CA.
Avion performs music and comedy under the name Paul Avion, and runs Fashion Week Online under the name Pablo Van Arsdalen.
Pataphor
He is inventor of the pataphor, an extended metaphor based on Alfred Jarry's science of 'pataphysics, which has appeared in art exhibits, short films, musical compositions, interactive games, and literary studies.
He is cited in The Disappearance of Literature: Blanchot, Agamben, and the Writers of the No.
"It is the linguistic register of pataphysics that bestows its most useful political meaning, as Pablo Lopez has demonstrated in his book, Pataphors, where he coins the term 'pataphor' to further extend the unworking, refusal, and creation at issue in Jarry's work into the operations of language. As Jarry claimed that pataphysics existed 'as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality,' a pataphor is a figure of speech located as far from metaphor as metaphor is from nonfigurative language.' While metaphysics and metaphors attain one degree of separation from reality, pataphors and pataphysics move beyond by two degrees. This allows an idea to assume its own life, a sort of plasticity freed from the harness of rigid representation. Metaphors, in other words, operate on the level of the same; they juxtapose apparently unrelated material in order to draw out subtle identities. Pataphors unsettle this mechanism; they use the facade of metaphorical similarity as a basis for establishing an entirely new range of references and outlandish articulations: a new world in the midst of the old, the novel taking to the streets. Just as Kafka sought to forge a new form of life on the basis of absolute separation from historical progress, on cultural 'intransmissibility,' and just as Blanchot pursued the 'pure novel' that exists in a relationship of absolute refusal of the established world, so the pataphysician seeks to initiate a new world on the grounds of a tenuous unreality."
Musical career and releases
Pablo Avion moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 2005, settling into the Silver Lake music scene, home to artists such as Jenny Lewis, Elliott Smith, Giant Drag and the Silversun Pickups. He originally formed the band Par Avion, which featured a revolving lineup, including musicians such as Tanya Haden (cellist, sister of Petra Haden, now wed to comedian Jack Black), and Ben Mumphrey, producer of Frank Black & the Catholics.
In 2009, as musician "Paul Avion," he was chosen by as an Artist to Watch,
As Paul Avion, he is noted for music that encompasses a wide variety of styles, from folk to experimental to electronic pop, with most of his songs apparently coming from dreams. He has said he considers himself a "sound explorer" in the vein of Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen, who he cites as major influences.
He has received further press in College Music Magazine, Glasswerk UK, Sentimentalist Magazine and other outlets.
He has released a number of singles, such as "Stand Up, Be a Man" and "Fibromyalgia", which have appeared on PBS' Roadtrip Nation, Fuel TV's extreme sports show, The Daily Habit, and AMC's Hollywood Icon.
In June 2009, 's Digital Sampler, Volume IX included the single "Art School Dropout" along with a number of bands from Sub Pop, Merge Records and Saddle Creek Records.
In 2010, he announced his first solo album, entitled R U With Me. The first track released was "Henry Sage & Mrs. Wolverton".
As of December 2010, R U With Me had reached number 7 on CMJ's new adds chart and had hit the top 30 lists of various stations, as well as receiving write-ups and recommendations from several. The album also scored at the top of a poll of "What Record Are You Looking Forward to Most" by .
In October 2012, he released Summerland / Self-Destroyer.
Summerland / Self-Destroyer charted in the top 30 at several stations, including Radio UTD and KSPC.
Fashion career
He runs publications such as Fashion Week Online and New York Fashion Week Live, where he's interviewed musicians such as Steve Nieve, in collaboration with Sting and Vanessa Paradis.
He's interviewed fashion icons such as Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2 and New York Fashion Week creator Fern Mallis.
Comedy career
Under the name "Pablo Avion," he has been active in stand-up comedy, with appearances at Los Angeles comedy clubs including Flappers and The Comedy Store in Hollywood.
In November 2014, he was featured on a podcast with comedian Nate Bargatze (Late Night with Conan O'Brien; The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon).
He is a collaborator with comedian Melinda Hill, (Funny or Die's The Program with Maria Bamford).
Activist work
In January 2010, the now-defunct SPIN-owned publication Earth announced the publication of a series of articles covering Paul Avion's trip to the slums of Kenya.
On November 3, 2010, the video for "Stop Joseph Kony" was released, filmed while living in one of Africa's slums, and meant to draw attention to atrocities committed by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.
Discography
*Pop Music United (2006)
*Fibromyalgia (2009)
*R U With Me (December 2010)
*Summerland / Self-Destroyer (October 2012)
Videography
*"Pop Music United" (2006)
*"Fibromyalgia" (2009)
*"Stop Joseph Kony" (2010)
*"Stand Up, Be a Man" (2010)
Other appearances
* In April 2008, the song "Stand Up, Be a Man" was featured on PBS' Roadtrip Nation.
* The song "Stand Up, Be a Man" was featured on the compilation Groovetonics, Volume 2 in 2008.
* In September 2008, the song "Stand Up, Be a Man" was featured on Fuel TVs "The Daily Habit".
* In July 2009, "Pop Music United II" was featured on AMC's Hollywood Icon.<ref name="amctv.com"/>
* In October 2013, he interviewed musician Steve Nieve about is collaboration with Sting and Vanessa Paradis.<ref name="fashionweekonline.com"/>
* In November 2014, he was featured on the "Behind the Funny" podcast with Nate Bargatze.<ref name="flappcast.com"/>

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