REVIEW: The Los Angeles Philharmonic dances! 2
A big week for dance in Los Angeles: first came the premiere of L.A. Dance Project under the direction of Benjamin Millepied. Then followed Thursday’s symphony gala celebrating what Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel called, in pre-concert remarks, “a union of the arts.” Dance shared the stage, rather marvelously, with our symphony orchestra. Grand ...
Only Marvin Hamlisch was missing. Pasadena Pops honors conductor.
A concert that culminates with the great lyricist Alan Bergman crooning in aching nostalgia The Way We Were, a song that he, his writing partner and wife Marilyn, and composer Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote for Barbra Streisand, is an event I’m interested in attending. Bergman is so special, a poet, really. The Pasadena Symphony’s high-quality tribute ...
How the Stones rolled through L.A.
Found: Photographs of the Rolling Stones, a month-long exhibition of twenty-six rare and candid photographs that document the Rolling Stones on their first American tour in 1964 opens soon at Dilettante, a creative theatre and gallery located in Compton. The Stones photo-booty was discovered in an unmarked box at a Central California estate sale — ...
America, choose your old guy 2
Aug
31
2012
Last night was a tough choice. Very, very hard. Whether to watch Clint Eastwood address the Republican National Convention saying things like “We own this country” (watching the RNC makes me want to cash out), versus a quick drive to the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park where the groovy, happening reggae singer, Don Carlos, a ...
Eulogizing Marvin Hamlisch
Aug
7
2012
Barbra Streisand, who worked closely with Mr. Hamlisch throughout his career and performed many of his songs, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon: “I’m devastated. He was my dear friend. He’s been in my life ever since the first day I met him in 1963, when he was my rehearsal pianist for ‘Funny Girl.’ ...
Mambo!
I enjoyed interviewing Kelly Todd, the choreographer of the vivacious production of West Side Story on now at the Chance Theater in Orange County. Read my piece in the Los Angeles Times. While you are reading … listen up! Like this? Read more … Movie musical talk with George Chakiris Line up the geniuses: West ...
Southwest Chamber Music’s plein air concert at The Huntington
A terrific, even heady, evening of chamber music at the Huntington Gallery in San Marino last night — a neatly tailored program of French composers for a Sunday’s eve by Southwest Chamber Music. After picnicking on the manicured lawn, we repaired to the gallery’s high-ceilinged, red-tiled patio-loggia decorated with doric columns and marble busts. There ...
Southwest Chamber Music’s French Chef-inspired performances @ The Huntington
Jul
25
2012
I’m attending a beautiful chamber music concert in San Marino, just south of Pasadena, this weekend. It’s the Southwest Chamber Music Summer Festival at The Huntington. It’s part of a beautiful themed food & music summer festival celebrating the centenary of the French Chef, Julia Child. Child was born in Pasadena. Her years in post-WWII ...
Jazz & junkies in Shirley Clarke’s “The Connection” @ New Beverly Cinema
This recco comes from arts·meme friend Ross Lipman, who was the chief restorationist for the film … Just wanted to let you know that Milestone Films is nationally releasing UCLA’s restoration of THE CONNECTION, and it will be running for a full week at the New Beverly, opening this Friday. Shirley Clarke‘s 1961 portrayal of ...
Gary Lucas’s “scary magical Jews” terrify in “Der Golem” @ Cinefamily 1
Grammy-nominated Gary Lucas, whom Rolling Stone calls “one of the best and most original guitarists in America,” performed his well-traveled and exceedingly harrowing score to “Der Golem,” the brilliant 1920 silent horror exemplar of German expressionism. The sold-out performance took place earlier this evening at The Cinefamily on Fairfax Avenue — speaking of ghostly Jewish ...