Remnants of “The Players” found in anthropological dig of L.A. nightclub property 4

Architecture & Design · Film
Our story concerns the film director Preston Sturges, whose great legacy is his canon of laugh-out-loud, politically tinged screwball comedies: “Sullivan’s Travels,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “The Lady Eve,” among them. The former private home where Sturges’ bar/restaurant, The Players, once operated still stands at 8225 Sunset Boulevard. In the 1940s it formed a Triangle ...

Miriam Rochlin’s handstand

Dance
Dear Miriam Rochlin, the lifelong dancer and Los Angeles dance instructor who died not two weeks ago, had a wonderful way of keeping fit. Thank you, Karen Goodman, for sharing the photo. Karen’s essay on Miriam’s life here. Obituary in the  Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

Bob Marley remembered 2

Film · Music
What I learned about reggae artist Bob Marley from “Marley,” an inspiring new documentary produced by his son: he was biracial (I did not know that) he was the soul of jamaica  he was gorgeous and nicely built he was all music, from childhood he was all artist, beatific in the final years of his ...

“In Wonderland” closing soon, wish it could live at LACMA permanently

Visual arts
So late in the day, but better late than never, may I praise the woman-art show at LACMA, “In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.” It runs at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion through May 6. Art goddess Frida Kahlo’s duel-nature psychological self-portrait, “The Two Fridas,” reigns over the exhibit. Don’t ...

Turner’s “Grenoble Bridge,” from collection of Baltimore Museum of Art 2

Visual arts
One of the Museum’s masterpieces, J.M.W. Turner’s Grenoble Bridge (1824), a watercolor that was purchased in 1968 and has rarely been shown due to its fragility. Click for detail. Joseph Mallord William Turner. Grenoble Bridge. (c. 1824).The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchase with exchangefunds from Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Collection.BMA 1968.28

Yes, concentration camp. Yes, Abu Ghraib. Yes, disturbing. Choreography by Hofesh Shechter.

Dance
The most interesting guy out there, an Israeli-born dance maker who came out of Ohad Naharin’s shop at Batsheva Dance Company. His “Violet Kid” took Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet to another level. Read my review in the Los Angeles Times.

“Fly out!” cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died. 6

Dance
Miriam Rochlin was born in Bonn in 1920 and she died last week in Los Angeles, a huge lifetime later. I knew Miriam only slightly, but knowing her at all was a great privilege. Choreographer Karen Goodman, pictured below chatting with her, knew the incandescent dancer well. The film, “Come Let Us Dance,” directed by ...

Get ready for Hofesh Shechter’s “Violet Kid” @ UCLA Live

Dance
I’m a movement junkie. I like to watch the body in motion and I respond well to a lot of form and structure. I also like work that goes to the dark side. That’s why I’m so attracted to the choreography of the Israeli-born London-based Hofesh Shechter. His “Violet Kid” will be danced by Cedar ...

Highly recommended: Faye Driscoll @ UCLA

Dance
First it’s really good in a crazy way. Then it’s crazy in not-that-good of a way. Finally it’s super interesting in a way you can’t quite figure out. That’s the road map for “You’re Me,” a grueling duet that dancer/choreographer Faye Driscoll will present tonight and Friday at the Glorya Kaufman Theater on the UCLA ...

New Yorkers show their love for an arts-loving building

Architecture & Design
Before-and-after photos of the historic renovation of 62 East 4th Street in New York’s East Village, an edifice with a lot of art history.