Bountiful schedule of classic films at TCM Fest
Apr
22
2010
The schedule for the Turner Classic Movies film festival is absolutely amazing. See it here. Your press representative (me) plans to spend the weekend immersed in great movies and film activity! The festival takes place in the heart of old Hollywood at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theater and its environs. Grauman’s is an extraordinary place ...
Heidi Duckler’s sudsy classic
The Echo Park lavanderia (“SpinCycle”) where choreographer Heidi Duckler is reprising her 1988 site-specific work “Laundromatinee” stands next door to a Los Angeles bagel factory. Yeasty baking odors waft into the laundromat where her whimsical dance unrolls. We’re in the inner city. That makes sense because Duckler, a long-time contributor to the local dance scene, ...
LACMA film falters …
Apr
20
2010
“Save Film at LACMA,” the grassroots activist group Doug Cummings and I headed up last August, published its update on LACMA chieftain Michael Govan’s progress in sorting out the fate of the museum’s classic film program. We explain that while much has changed since Mr. Govan reversed his decision to cancel the 40-year-running program, much remains ...
BODYTRAFFIC & Barak Marshall fete Israel’s 62nd 1
Haim Saban, the expatriate Israeli entrepreneur who made a bundle in the 1990s manufacturing Power Rangers, threw an amazing and generous party for L.A.’s Jewish community to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaoot, Israel Independence Day, at his newly refurbished Saban (formerly the Wilshire) Theater. Everything nifty about Israeli culture — its youth, high energy, optimism, talent to ...
Stephen Farber screens Ivory sans Merchant 2
Apr
18
2010
“What’s the city of your final destination?” inquires film critic Stephen Farber of his audience, setting the stage for screening director James Ivory’s latest film. “The City of your Final Destination” is one of a roster of top films enjoying pre-release viewings at Farber’s Monday evening “Reel Talk” events in West Los Angeles. Made four ...
Film critic Manny Farber tribute @ LACMA
Apr
18
2010
Among the most tempting of the surfeit of film series "plaguing" our city in April is LACMA’s tribute to the eclectic artist and film critic Manny Farber. LACMA’s associate film curator Bernardo Rondeau nurtured and developed the series to honor Farber, whose essays were published for decades in The New Republic, The Nation, and Time ...
John Jasperse tells his truth … at REDCAT
New York choreographer John Jasperse’s engaging dance work with the coy name, “Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful Thinking, and Flat-out Lies,” confirms the obvious. And that is that of the many wonderful outposts for dance in Los Angeles, REDCAT is the most happening. Highlights of the REDCAT dance season included the re-staging of Anna Halprin’s “Parades ...
arts•meme to attend TCM classic film festival 2
Apr
16
2010
arts•meme will be part of the press corps at the first ever TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood for four days beginning April 22. More than 50 classic films will be screened at Hollywood’s historic Chinese and Egyptian theaters with appearances by Mel Brooks, Luise Rainer, Ernest Borgnine, Jerry Lewis, Eva Marie Saint, Tony Curtis, ...
NEA dance writer boot camp accepting applications
Apr
14
2010
A truly unique opportunity awaits a dance writer — established or aspiring — who is motivated to endure the tough boot camp known as the NEA Dance Institute … to be held at the American Dance Festival at Duke University this summer. But you need to apply now. Deadline looms next Friday April 23rd. Application ...
Meredith Monk, liberator of singers
Multimedia artist Meredith Monk, labeled avant-garde for her reducing of dance, music, and drama to their most basic and powerful elements, gave the great voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale a remarkable gift: their bodies. Halfway through “Songs of Ascension,” the final work of Sunday evening’s Monk tribute, the singers circulated the stage of Disney ...