Filmmaker John Smith recovers “Lost Sound” @ L.A. Filmforum
Nov
19
2012
Lost Sound, a short film made between 1998-2001 by John Smith and Graeme Miller — two British artists, respectively film maker and composer — was a highlight of a Smith retrospective by Los Angeles Filmforum this weekend. The wonderful 28-minute gem spooled in the cool screening room of the Echo Park Film Center. The filmmaker, ...
Words matter …
… at “Letters from Los Angeles,” a new show opening at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts this weekend. Rutberg’s showcase LaBrea Avenue gallery will offer the exhibit, co-curated by Aldis Browne, which features more than 30 contemporary L.A.-based artists who incorporate elements of words and letters in their work. The artist roster includes: Lita Albuquerque, John ...
Jack Cole’s mid-century-modern dance design 1
A lost Jack Cole dance sequence from DOWN TO EARTH (Columbia, 1947). [click on the photo for detail.] Called the “New York number,” it used to be part of the larger “People Have More Fun Than Anyone,” number before it was cut from the film. It was absolutely common in Cole’s Hollywood career that his ...
Review: Streisand, refridgerated
Warming the nippy November night with her presence, Barbra Streisand captivated the Hollywood Bowl — an outdoor amphitheater, a house of 18,000 seats — in a wonderful concert. She looked gorgeous and her voice was gorgeous, often silken and surprising. A powerful, beautiful woman dressed sharp in a black sequined pant-ensemble, Streisand commanded the Bowl’s ...
Stones still rolling fifty years later, on HBO 1
When the great blues-steeped rock band, The Rolling Stones, launched in 1962, I was seven years old — and already an budding arts journalist. Their marking a half century of existence is the magical stuff of a generation. Last night we previewed Crossfire Hurricane, the 100-minute tour de force of fascinating original footage knitted together ...
Groovin’ with Grusin & his huge jazz orchestra 1
Nov
7
2012
The 67-piece Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, the only ensemble of its kind in the country, will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a special concert featuring Academy and Grammy Award winning composer, arranger and pianist, Dave Grusin this Friday evening. Grusin has composed for such films as Fabulous Baker Boys, Havana, On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Milagro Beanfield ...
Classical Underground looks above ground — and it’s a mess! 1
As part of its holistic approach to the arts (“In Art We Trust,” its tagline), the informal classical music showcase, Classical Underground, now in its sixth season, features the work of visual artists. November’s concert highlights a neo-realist painting that resonates — much as we wish it didn’t. The work, Among The Ruins by New ...
Barrie Chase to reminisce about her favorite dance partner 1
Oct
30
2012
We would never miss the upcoming event at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences this Thursday evening when the elegant, long-legged beauty, Barrie Chase, appears in person for a fun screening and panel discussion. Clips from four of the Emmy-Award winning television specials Chase made with Fred Astaire in the late 1950s and early ...
Musical message from Moscow … 1
Oct
30
2012
… will be hand delivered when the members of the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble performs in a free concert at UCLA’s Popper Theater. The program will focus on recent works by living Russian composers Galina Ustvolskaya, Edison Denisov, Leonid Desyatnikov, Pavel Karmanov, Sofia Gubaidulina,and UCLA music professor David S Lefkowitz’s “Berceuse” for violin, clarinet, and ...
Heidi’s healing happening in Elysian Park 2
In her most recent escapade, the skyscraper-topping “Cleopatra CEO,” Heidi Duckler ramped up her audience with an heady dance cocktail mixing corporate and sexual politics. This past weekend, the pied-piper choreographer, having transformed us into alpha men, led us to a forested glen in Elysian Park, one mile outside downtown Los Angeles. There on the ...