Monk lives … at UCLA
Apr
20
2011
The Herb Alpert juggernaut of extraordinary arts philanthropy surges on the news that The Herb Alpert Foundation has again spurred jazz education at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The school will join forces with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, a nonprofit organization devoted to jazz education now based in New Orleans. For ...
Barak Marshall’s MONGER danced in mameloshen 1
mameloshen: (yiddish) the mother tongue It’s been a Barak Marshall festival in Los Angeles lately and that’s the way it should be. Because this guy, a nervous bundle of Harvard-educated brains topped by a black-corkscrew hairdo, is the closest thing L.A. offers to a worldly — and if he continues on track — a world-class ...
Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin! 1
Anyone who trolls mid-city Los Angeles will recognize the wonderful Tudor-style building at right (you can click on the photo). Creative dynamo Charles Chaplin, one of L.A.’s real go-getters, built it in 1917. And, there, leaning against the wall of his very own film factory stands the lovely Chaplin. It’s a pretty proud moment for ...
Bertrand Blier to Gérard Depardieu @ COLCOA: ‘trop gros pour moi’
Apr
15
2011
depardieu/farley, snl “I always think about Gérard Depardieu when I create a role,” said Bertrand Blier, who since 1974 has made eight films with France’s premier actor. “Even if it’s a woman. Even if it’s an animal. Sometimes there’s a big piece of furniture — it’s Depardieu.” Blier was free-associating at the daily afternoon ‘Happy ...
Jack Cole dancer George Martin dies 5
Sad news. One of the last living connections to Jack Cole and a key member of Cole’s great brigade of film and nightclub dancers, George Martin, died in Atlanta on April, 6, 2011, we learned yesterday from Dancers Over 40. I met the Martins, George and Ethel, at a symposium on Cole last summer at ...
Karloff’s got a monstrous hold on arts·meme
Apr
14
2011
Why did arts·meme blog on Boris Karloff yesterday? Only the god-of-blogs knows for certain. I don’t know a thing about Boris Karloff, really. I just liked the photo of the monster Frankenstein and little Maria from Location Filming in Los Angeles. You can join me in catching up, by attending “A Night for Boris Karloff” ...
Doing the monster mash at Malibou Lake 1
This lakeside fol-de-rol is featured in the fun new book, Location Filming in Los Angeles, by arts·meme pals Mark Wanamaker, Karie Bible and Harry Medved. The book describes how Universal shot the controversial scene on location at a lake in Malibu State Park eighty years ago this September. We learned this on Frankensteinia: On this ...
Bring Your Own Glue (BYOG) to New Puppy Gallery’s street-art show
Apr
12
2011
From our friends at New Puppy Gallery, which floats like an island in the no-man’s land between Highland Park and downtown Los Angeles: ABCNT, Cryptik, Nomadé and Eddie Colla poke the MOCA institutional bear with their explosive new show, Sniffin’ Glue, opening April 16 at New Puppy Gallery. Armed with intense imagery and street credibility, ...
Paul Taylor’s Annamaria Mazzini, a true modern dancer
Apr
11
2011
Annamaria Mazzini, in action-mode in Paul Taylor’s Runes (1975), a ritualistic piece about a primitive society (i.e., nothing to do with America today). This great, thrusting leap by the soon-to-retire Mazzini says everything about why modern dance is its own magnificent art form: the way her arms pull behind her, the subtle curve of her ...
Jamison, Battle, and Ailey dancers feted by L.A. community
Apr
9
2011
This line-up of good-looking people is an elite squadron — they’re dancers with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Nice and fun people, too. We had a chance to meet them at Thursday night’s packed and bustling party hosted by mega-couple Mattie McFadden-Lawson and Michael A. Lawson (here’s Michael hanging out with one of his good ...