Herb Alpert & Lani Hall, outstanding arts philanthropists, oversee 2012 Alpert Awards
The Herb Alpert Foundation and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) have awarded the 18th annual Alpert Award in the Arts to five exceptional mid–career artists. The award, a prize of $75,000, recognizes past performance and future promise to artists working in Dance, Film/Video, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts. Herb Alpert, the legendary musician and ...
“Choreography by Jack Cole” on TCM September 10 4
On Monday, September 10, 2012 Turner Classic Movies will dedicate an evening to the brilliant creativity of Jack Cole. The evening features four films choreographed by Cole — he himself dances in two of them. I co-host the September broadcast with TCM’s Robert Osborne. Films on the slate: Tonight & Every Night (1945) – 8 ...
BYOB – Bring Your Own Blanket – to “Oscars Outdoors”
May
7
2012
In an act of magnanimous good citizenry and cultural benevolence, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has unveiled its new screening venue and summer on-the-lawn film series. Impressive. It’s located on Vine Street south of the ArcLight Cinema. Click the photo to view the build-out. The “Oscars Outdoors” open-air theater is part ...
Remnants of “The Players” found in anthropological dig of L.A. nightclub property 4
Our story concerns the film director Preston Sturges, whose great legacy is his canon of laugh-out-loud, politically tinged screwball comedies: “Sullivan’s Travels,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “The Lady Eve,” among them. The former private home where Sturges’ bar/restaurant, The Players, once operated still stands at 8225 Sunset Boulevard. In the 1940s it formed a Triangle ...
Miriam Rochlin’s handstand
May
1
2012
Dear Miriam Rochlin, the lifelong dancer and Los Angeles dance instructor who died not two weeks ago, had a wonderful way of keeping fit. Thank you, Karen Goodman, for sharing the photo. Karen’s essay on Miriam’s life here. Obituary in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.
Bob Marley remembered 2
What I learned about reggae artist Bob Marley from “Marley,” an inspiring new documentary produced by his son: he was biracial (I did not know that) he was the soul of jamaica he was gorgeous and nicely built he was all music, from childhood he was all artist, beatific in the final years of his ...
“In Wonderland” closing soon, wish it could live at LACMA permanently
May
1
2012
So late in the day, but better late than never, may I praise the woman-art show at LACMA, “In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.” It runs at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion through May 6. Art goddess Frida Kahlo’s duel-nature psychological self-portrait, “The Two Fridas,” reigns over the exhibit. Don’t ...
Turner’s “Grenoble Bridge,” from collection of Baltimore Museum of Art 2
Apr
30
2012
One of the Museum’s masterpieces, J.M.W. Turner’s Grenoble Bridge (1824), a watercolor that was purchased in 1968 and has rarely been shown due to its fragility. Click for detail. Joseph Mallord William Turner. Grenoble Bridge. (c. 1824).The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchase with exchangefunds from Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Collection.BMA 1968.28
Yes, concentration camp. Yes, Abu Ghraib. Yes, disturbing. Choreography by Hofesh Shechter.
Apr
30
2012
The most interesting guy out there, an Israeli-born dance maker who came out of Ohad Naharin’s shop at Batsheva Dance Company. His “Violet Kid” took Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet to another level. Read my review in the Los Angeles Times.