Phantoms and other visions out yonder

Photographer David Strick ventured into the wilds of Santa Clarita and Lancaster in March for a look at the latest videos for Grammy-winning skate rapper Lupe Fiasco and Phantom Planet, the alternative rock band best known for its hit song “California,” which was the theme for the Fox series “The O.C.” On March 8, Fiasco was getting his rap on in a desolate no-man’s-land region between Lancaster and Palmdale -- standing in for Spain -- riding a female camel, a motorcycle and even a train for his “Paris, Tokyo” video. Eleven days later, Phantom Planet was hanging out at the Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita for their “Do the Panic” video -- a special-effects horror movie spoof, which finds the group going to a lonely cabin in the woods where they are murdered. But their music lives on as their instruments take up the beat in the surreal finale.