Esa-Pekka, Especially-Pleasurable, at HEAR NOW benefit 3
Posing with The Lyris Quartet (Alyssa Park, Shalini Yijayan, violins, Timothy Loo, cello, Luke Maurer, viola) is our marvelous and much-missed Los Angeles Philharmonic Conductor-Laureate, Esa-Pekka Salonen, on a return visit to our town. Salonen’s now London-based where he’s principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. His presence at a house party in Culver City proved ...
Saving the children … 1
Dec
16
2012
Allegorical text written by J.D. Salinger for his character, Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye (1951): “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing ...
Dance a big part of L.A. County holiday celebration!
Dec
15
2012
It’s time for the 53rd Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. More than 20 choirs, music ensembles and dance companies from the many neighborhoods and cultures of L.A. celebrate the season during this free three-hour extravaganza. You can attend part of the show or all of it and it’s full of ...
Jack Cole, Hollywood director 4
On the camera crane works Jack Cole (in white sweater, click photo for detail), directing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” exactly as he did for all four GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) dance numbers (Two Little Girls From Little Rock, Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love, When Love Goes Wrong, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best ...
An easy nut to crack: City Ballet of Los Angeles in “The Nutcracker Swings”
Dec
11
2012
City Ballet of Los Angeles (CBLA) continues its mission to reflect the diversity of its city and bring classical ballet to new audiences with its winter program, The Nutcracker Swings, a twist on the holiday favorite set in 1942 Los Angeles during World War II. The Nutcracker Swings is CBLA’s tribute to the classic tale ...
Celebrating Iran’s Jewish artists: Shulamit Gallery
Dec
9
2012
Two weeks after a bustling opening party launched a new house of art at Venice Beach, we revisited the multi-floored Shulamit Gallery on a grey-skied late-November afternoon. The smart, post-modern shoebox structure wedges neatly into a row of buildings that marks the end of Venice Boulevard. At this location, arguably the western-most point of sprawling ...
This week in Havana: Gary Lucas accompanies Antonioni films
If you are down Havana way this weekend, be sure to drop in on the Gaia Arts Center in Old Havana. There, the infinitely gifted guitarist Gary Lucas will provide live accompaniment to screenings of director Michelangelo Antonioni‘s “Red Desert” and “Zabriskie Point.” The rooftop events, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, are part of a ...
BODYTRAFFIC to share wares at Jacob’s Pillow
Dec
5
2012
Some hugely happy news, we’ve learned that L.A.’s hard-dancing, home-grown repertory dance troupe, BODYTRAFFIC, now in its fifth year, will perform next summer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. The Pillow, whose tony hilltop campus in the Berkshires houses two theaters, a summer dance program, picnicking grounds and a wonderful archives, has hosted a huge swathe ...
Jack Cole, superlative night club dancer, 1940s 1
Dec
5
2012
Photo of Jack Cole costumed for his seminal night club act (photo by Maurice Seymour). Like so much related to Cole, the pose is spectacular and unique. What other dancer would opt for this unusual, asymmetric position? With one leg turned out, and the other in parallel position? It was never seen before nor since. ...
Review: No chopped liver, but still great: GATZ @ REDCAT 2
When I was a kid, my yiddishe grandmother would pack us sandwiches for Saturday movie matinee (she called it “the show”). My cousins and I would line up at the box office of Pittsburgh’s Manor Theater, clutching in our little hands a few bucks and our greasy brown-paper bag lunches. The theater concession’s stellar offerings ...