She imagined, she designed and she built: Julia Morgan 2
Feb
12
2019
Cali’s renowned female architect and her mansion by the sea for Marion Davies All she did was to conceptualize, design and build Hearst Castle in San Simeon, as the West Coast corollary of Versailles. It wasn’t much. It took no time at all — 28 years. There on a high cliff overlooking the Pacific, in ...
Laurie Sefton’s tasty dance offerings for Clairobscur
“Concert Walls” (2018) choreography by Laurie Sefton This evocative dance photo speaks to me, for, like many fellow Americans, I have walls on my mind. How I wish I didn’t. The image is of Concert Walls, a work from the attractive, diverse repertory of Clairobscur Dance Company, whose resident choreographer Laurie Sefton states with certitude, ...
Traffic-distraction: Cunningham dancers displayed on high
They move faster than L.A. traffic and they are infinitely more beautiful. From February 4 – 17 excerpts from Scenario and Views on Camera, filmed by Charlie Atlas, are spooling on a big distracting screen outside the Marriott Hotel across from LA Live. On Olympic, east of the 110, west of Figueroa, guys. The screen ...
Our pick for Black History month: Lena Horne tributes
Author James Gavin, who penned “Stormy Weather: The Life Of Lena Horne” will explore the life and career of a legendary superstar as part of Black History month February 13. The fun and informative event will take place at The Barn, with all the barn animals. Lena Horne was one of the great entertainers of ...
Gregory Hines forever
The United States Postal Service, a valued part of our Federal government, has honored a great American dancer by issuing its 42nd stamp in the Black Heritage series featuring an image of Gregory Hines (1946–2003). Hines was a monster-contributor to the dance field. Nominated for Tony Awards in the 1970s for three Broadway musicals — ...
‘Dolly’ll never go away again’ — for three weeks — at the Pantages
Jan
31
2019
HELLO, DOLLY! cast. photo: Julia Cervantes All of this ebullience is on tap at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre where the cast pictured above, darling, and certainly relieved after a smooth opening night, gathered for a photo. The “kids” surround their “Dolly,” the Tony Award-winning actress Betty Buckley, in the Los Angeles premiere engagement of the ...
‘Sans toi,’ Michel Legrand
Jan
26
2019
With choking sadness after a brutal week of perhaps too much Americana we learn of the death of singer/composer Michael Legrand (1932 – 2019) whose sweet-yet-dolorous songs we have found so enchanting. We floated on his ethereal music in the operatic movie-musicals Les parapluies de Cherbourg and Les demoiselles de Rochefort. And then his great, ...
Beautiful unburdening: Rosanne Cash at the Soraya
Jan
24
2019
In promoting her new album, She Remembers Everything, country singer Rosanne Cash features photos of fellow female songbirds, among them Janis Joplin, accompanied by a plaintive lyric, “Who know who she used to be before it all went dark?” That’s a gripping start — as if she needed one, she doesn’t, following her triple Grammy-winning ...
To be young, gifted & Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul in ‘Amazing Grace’
“Amazing Grace,” with two-million vinyl discs exiting record stores, was the top-selling gospel record of all time and Aretha Franklin‘s top-selling album. Released in June 1972, the album coincided with the very same month I graduated from an all-white high school in suburban Pittsburgh. Right around that time, on Sunday afternoons, I used my new ...