Chatting with Michael Govan about ‘Moholy-Nagy: Future Present’
May
28
2017
It was nice watching the at-home manner in which LACMA CEO Michael Govan toured the cascading galleries of “Moholy-Nagy: Future Present” during the impressive show’s opening week in February. The highly recommended exhibition of 250 works by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a visual master much known for photography and filmmaking, will close on June 18. Sure, the ...
Andrea Martin, beautiful & funny, in support of Armenian women in need 2
We so enjoyed last night’s cabaret-style performance by actress Andrea Martin, accompanied by her versatile sidekick (every woman needs one) Seth Rudetsky. The evening-length fundraiser for the Armenian International Women’s Association took place at North Hollywood’s show-bizzy El Portal Theater. Paying respect to her Armenian family background, the multiple Emmy Award-winning and two-time Tony Award-winning ...
arts·meme at nine, an industrious arts builder 4
May
24
2017
Happy birthday dear arts·meme, happy birthday to you~! On May 24, 2008, we launched your favorite arts blog. We’ve been assiduously building ever since. Brick by brick, story by story, we have accrued a steady pile of nearly 2,000 blog posts. It’s all interwoven, as we like to feature artistic mash-ups, mostly in dance and ...
Looks fascinating: “Les Blancs” by Lorraine Hansberry @ Rogue Machine
May
24
2017
Lorraine Hansberry’s final work, completed just before her death in 1965, Les Blancs, depicts the waning days of colonialism. Set in a time frame crossing into the 20th century, it reveals the impossible moral choices faced by individuals who must reconcile personal happiness with idealism. It is rich with music and dance and set in ...
Not a ‘witch hunt,’ Mr. Trump, decries daughter of John Garfield
Mr. Trump, words matter. If not to you, then to the rest of us. Trump’s repeated flinging of the loaded expression ‘witch hunt’ (yet again this morning, via Twitter) in a moment of his wounded narcissism strikes a deep, deep chord. It brings painful memories of a shameful chapter of American history. It brings rage ...
Ella at 100: virtuosity, joy and swing 5
arts·meme jazz critic Kirk Silsbee excerpts his liner notes to the new four-CD set, Ella Fitzgerald: 100 Songs For a Centennial (Verve 2016-00957) At first blush, one hundred songs from any artist seem like overkill. In the case of Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), whose recordings number in the thousands, one hundred is just about enough to ...
Let choreographer Laura Karlin decorate your home
May
16
2017
I very much enjoyed Invertigo Dance Theatre founder/choreographer Laura Karlin‘s “Interior Design,” a high point of the vigorous opening night of the Los Angeles Dance Festival last weekend. Hosted by director Deborah Brockus at the cozy Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, this year’s festival offered a parade of Los Angeles dance companies the opportunity to display their ...
Kim Basinger, Guy Pearce pay tribute to ‘L.A. Confidential’ director Curtis Hanson
May
10
2017
”He was my friend. I loved the man,” said actress Kim Basinger of film director Curtis Hanson, who died tragically at a too-young age in September 2016. Basinger’s two films for Hanson included L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) and 8 MILE (2002). The super slender blonde, a down-home stunner, sparkled alongside co-star Guy Pearce in a joint ...
‘Starring Europe’ top film picks: from France, from Italy
May
10
2017
Well, they all look so good, don’t they? The fourth annual European film festival in Los Angeles, Starring Europe: New Films from the EU, kicked off with a swinging red carpet/gala reception in the peerless courtyard of Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre last night. Remarks prior to the opening-night feature, MELLOW MUD, a Latvian film, indicate that ...
Opens tonight! STARRING EUROPE filmfest
May
9
2017
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain. Wouldn’t you just love to get on a slow boat and visit them all? Boat trip perhaps not necessary. Nor a flight ticket. Starting tonight, Tuesday May 9 and running through May 15, the American Cinematheque will host ...