This Weekend: Batsheva Dance Company at UCLA Live

Founded in 1964 with the personal assistance of Martha Graham, Batsheva has evolved into one of the most influential and consistently fresh and exciting dance companies on the planet, and one of Israel’s leading cultural ambassadors.

Last seen at UCLA Live in 2006, the company, under the visionary direction of Israeli dancer/choreographer Ohad Naharin, has earned an international reputation for pushing the boundaries of dance with intense energy, rich sensuality and a culturally diverse dance language.

Its repertoire comprises works by dance’s leading innovators, including Naharin, whose latest creation Max was described by The Jerusalem Post as “an evening to remember.” Performed by 10 dancers to original music by Maxim Waratt (a name Naharin assumed for himself), Max is noted for its striking gestural language and its deconstruction of identity.

Royce Hall
February 28, 2009 | 8:00pm
March 1, 2009 | 7:00pm
Tickets here.

Tonight: Eames Chair Party at MODERNICA

In honor of Modernica's 20th anniversary, the company is releasing a new iteration on the classic mid-century fiberglass shell chair originally designed by the Eameses.

Modernica, which is based in Los Angeles, uses the Eames original chair molds and presses to continue manufacturing the modern classics. They've added new colors and variations for the chair bases over the years and now are releasing another version. The new one was designed by Peter Shire and the Modernica Studio and will be unveiled this Thursday at the Modernica 20th anniversary celebration at the Modernica Showroom in Los Angeles.

Modernica is located at 7366 Beverly Boulevard, between Fairfax and La Brea.

Engine Collision Festival at Studio 1636

The Engine Collision Festival is an intimate, 11 day celebration of fringe artists from all over the world. Taking place in Los Angeles, this eclectic program of Cinema, performance and Multimedia dynamically presents - the current state of ‘Genre’, the influence of past, and the vision of future. Among Engine Collision Fest headliners:

David Lynch will be screening a selection of unavailable short works.

ADULT SWIM's METALOCALYPSE animators will do a show & tell, featuring a sneak preview of their forthcoming cartoon mayhem.

Slamdance Film fest has put together a night of their 2009 winners.

Cory McAbee is screening “The American Astronaut”.

Cherry Vanilla will read from her autobiography.

Shannyn Sossamon will reveal her experimental video project, “Maudegone”.

And many more accomplished headliners. More info here.

Owen Land / George Landow premieres "Dialogues" at Velaslavasay Panorama

Saturday, February 28th, 2009 | 8:00pm

This coming Saturday The Velaslavasay Panorama will host an evening with experimental filmmaker Owen Land to preview his forthcoming film, "Dialogues". The first film in a new genre: the postexperimental, oneiric, mythopoetic autobiograph. This two-hour film presents a series of episodic vignettes, loosely based on the constructed personal history of Owen Land, the man formerly known as George Landow. Owen Land will introduce the film and cast members. There will also be books available for sale and signing. This film is intended for adult audiences.

Watch Owen Land's Remedial Reading Comprehension (1970):

The Velaslavasay Panorama
1122 West 24th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90007

Tickets: suggested donation of $10
$8 V.P.E.S. Members, Seniors & Students
Advance reservations are available here

Jérôme Bel at REDCAT

February 27 - March 1
Jérôme Bel: Pichet Klunchun and Myself

In a witty, clear-eyed and moving exploration of art across cultural divides, French choreographer Jérôme Bel restages his first encounter with Thai dancer Pichet Klunchun, a master of the classical khon form. Through a lively mix of physical demonstration and high-spirited verbal debate, Bel and Klunchun go on a lucid, often very funny quest for understanding of each other's dance styles and traditions. The pair reflect on subjects from dance history to the subtleties of skilled performing, from Eurocentrism to cultural globalization, in repartee that is endearingly unaffected and tender.

Institute: Under Hand @ ICI

ICI Research Team, Interpretive Field Project: Trauma, Bebelplatz, Berlin, 1999.

February 27 to March 29, 2009
Opening Night Reception: February 27, 2009 - 5 to 8pm

ICI: Under Hand will feature the work of two long-standing members of the ICI collective. Martin Gantman will present "Empire: Davos" in the ICI laboratory and an installation by Yolande Macias McKay will occupy the ICI sanctuary. The exhibition alludes to the traditional activity of the artist who makes unique objects or manipulates and retouches found objects under the 'authority of the hand.'

Since 1991, the Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) has explored the role of visuality in imagining, perpetrating and perpetuating the intangible and ever-changing phenomena known as "culture." The ICI sponsors displays, symposia, workshops, performances and provides numerous opportunities for both the artist fabricator and the curious spectator of visual culture.

Institute of Cultural Inquiry
1512 S. Robertson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Tel: 310.273.7181

Milk (not the civil rights leader the other kind)

Nick Charles has met his match. Who is the adversary who bested this super-sleuth? Not a sleazy reporter named "Whitey" or an oily thief named "Creeps".- not even a gangster night-club owner with the oddly gay moniker of "Dancer" (ranked between "Big Baby" and "Shaqtus" on Regrettable Nickname Magazine's all time top 100 list.) No, the nefarious villain who triumphs over the legendary bloodhound/boozehound is none other than his own son- the very young, but nattily dressed, Nick Charles Jr.

Little Nicky defeats his father with three simple words- "Daddy, drink milk!" With this gauntlet thrown down at the dinner table, the elder Charles, eager to earn his son's respect, surrenders the omnipresent cocktail shaker. The goggle-eyed maid brings out a glass of the white-stuff and gives it to Nick with all the gravitas of a waiter handing Socrates a snifter of hemlock. Nick drinks the milk down and, in a moment, he enters an exciting new phase of his life- Having to Give a Crap What Your Kids Think of You. I hope he's not Lactose intolerant.

Another Thin Man and Shadow of the Thin Man- the third and forth installments in the Thin Man series- shown in a double-feature last Saturday at Cinefamily as part of their month long Thin Man series, find our favorite couple indulging in the joys of parenthood. Fortunately for us, they're not very good parents. Aside from a handful of wacky domestic scenes, little Nicky spends most of his time in the care of nurses and maids- freeing Nick & Nora up to gallivant about town and go to wrestling matches, horse-races and ethnically themed nightclubs. Everywhere they go, mayhem, murder and witty banter are sure to follow- much to our delight. It's an inspiration to mediocre parents and high-functioning alcoholics everywhere.

Watching the movies at Cinefamily makes them even more delightful- especially since Hadrian Belove, the organization's executive director, is a big believer in combining old movies and cocktails, and giddily notifies everyone coming in about the free martinis and Manhattans in the back.

I do have one important piece of advice for those coming to Cinefamily: swallow your LA hipster pride and arrive early to claim one of the eight couches that make up the front two rows. It's worth sacrificing a fashionably late arrival for sheer comfort- and you can still poke at your iPhone and pretend to read messages before the movies if you want to feel popular and important (I recommend checking the weather in different cities and nodding knowingly to create the desired effect.) There are few experiences in life more pleasant than kicking back on a leather sofa and watching great old movies on a big screen. Throw free booze in the mix and Bride Wars starts to seem like Sunset Boulevard. Hell, it might even make watching The Reader tolerable- but I'm not taking any chances.

Little Nick Jr. can be as judgemental as likes. As he gets older he'll discover, as we all do, that cocktails make life beautiful and milk just gives you gas.

German Manuscript Illumination @ The Getty

Detail of Job derided by his Wife, German, Cologne, Circa 1450

German and Central European Manuscript Illumination
February 24–May 24, 2009 @ The Getty Center

The tradition of book painting thrived in Germany and Central Europe for nearly a millennium, enduring even after the invention of printing in the 1400s. This exhibition features manuscripts and paintings made from Cologne to Prague that reveal the richness of Central European book art. It also features a dramatic painting by Albrecht Altdorfer newly conserved at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Learn more about this exhibition.

See all events related to this exhibition.

Free @ MOCA: Dialogues in Contemporary Art

Untitled 2001 by Liz Larner (2003)

TUESDAY, FEB 24, 7–8:30pm
PERIODIZING CONTEMPORARY ART:
ALEX ALBERRO IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHANNA BURTON

Join leading scholars Alexander Alberro and Johanna Burton for a broad-ranging discussion of contemporary art and culture. Alberro will offer an overview of his book-in-progress, Periodizing Contemporary Art, to which Burton will respond. The speakers will then engage the audience in a collective dialogue about the politics, possibilities, and problems of contemporary art today and in the recent past.

THURSDAY, FEB 26, 2:30–5pm
RIGHTS TO EXPRESSION VS. REGIMES OF POWER IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE

Noah Chasin and Susan Merriam, both assistant professors of art history at Bard College, moderate this panel discussion exploring artists’ rights to public self-expression in the face of increased political tension and limitation of access to public visual display and free speech. Topics covered include the public sculpture/installations of Thomas Hirschhorn, the politically volatile work of Argentine artist Leon Ferrari, and the impact of terrorist threats on altering future models for urban design. Featured panelists include: Johanna Burton, Whitney Independent Study Program/Princeton University; Lisa Lee, Princeton University; Yates McKee, Columbia University; Peter Mörtenböck, Goldsmiths, University of London/Vienna University of Technology; and Todd Porterfield, Université de Montréal.

THURSDAY, FEB 26, 6:30–8:30pm
IRVING SANDLER AND RAPHAEL RUBINSTEIN

In 1970, Irving Sandler published The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism, a book that quickly became the definitive account of the movement. Now, after a 50-year career as one of America’s most distinguished and influential critics and art historians, Sandler reassesses his own thoughts on abstract expressionism in light of recent scholarship and his own observations. Sandler and Raphael Rubinstein, former senior editor of Art in America and current professor of critical studies at the University of Houston, engage in a vivid discussion of Abstract Expressionism and the American Experience: A Reevaluation, Sandler’s highly anticipated new book, to be published this spring by Hard Press Editions and the School of Visual Arts, New York.

FRIDAY, FEB 27, 1:30–3:30pm
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTIST'S VOICE: CONSERVATION AND THE WORK OF LIZ LARNER AND MICHAEL C. McMILLEN

Moderated by Jay Krueger, senior conservator of modern paintings at the National Gallery of Art, participants on this panel discussing the preservation of installation-based art include: John Griswold, principal conservator, Griswold Conservation Associates, LLC; Liz Larner, artist; Michael C. McMillen, artist; and Alma Ruiz, MOCA curator. The Importance of the Artist’s Voice: Conservation and the Work of Liz Larner and Michael C. McMillen is co-presented by The International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art-North America and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA).

SATURDAY, FEB 28, 12:30–2:30pm
SCREENING AND Q&A: THE PAINTER SAM FRANCIS BY JEFFREY PERKINS

Made over a period of 40 years by fellow artist and close friend Jeffrey Perkins, The Painter Sam Francis (2008, 85 min.) is a deeply insightful portrait of one of the pioneers of American abstract art. Filmmaker Jeffrey Perkins will be present to introduce the film and answer questions following the screening. This program repeats on Sunday, March 1.

All events are FREE with museum admission; no reservations required. INFO 213/621-1745 or education@moca.org

Rock Paper Scissor @ Robert Berman

Ron English and Daniel Johnston Collaboration

R O C K P A P E R S C I S S O R
Featuring Raymond Pettibon, Daniel Johnston, Ron English, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo & Gibby Haynes
Curated by Jon Cournoyer

February 28 - March 21, 2009

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 28 from 7-10pm with DJ Shepard Fairey
RSVP to rsvp@robertbermangallery.com

This exhibition highlights these artists who in both the mediums of music and art have created a memorable and historical body of work and continue to do so. Born from outsider roots stemming from Los Angeles, New York and Texas, they blurred the boundaries of aural and visual expressions creating what would become a hallmark of material from the period of the 1980's-1990's, eventually being absorbed by both the mainstream public and art industries. It's influences today are countless.

On exhibit will be paintings, drawings, collages, conceptual pieces and installations as well as ephemera including lyric sheets by Raymond Pettibon that have rarely been exhibited. Also a large collection or rare and early Daniel Johnston works, many of which have never been publicly exhibited, will also be on view from the collection of Don Goede, co-author along with Tarssa Yazdan of the definitive book on the artist Hi, How Are You?. These works will be published in the next edition of this book as well.

View images here.

THE PERFORMANCE
Live Benefit Music Performance for the Santa Monica Museum of Art

Being an art exhibit based on artists who also are musicians, a live performance is scheduled for the weekend of the opening reception to be hosted by the very well respected Santa Monica Museum of Art, which is located a few doors down from us at Bergamot Station. The NicheMakers (feat. Raymond Pettibon), Ron English's Electric Illuminati, Mike Watt+thesecondmen and special guests are scheduled to play.

Sunday, March 1 @ 2pm | Bergamot Station Arts Center | $35.00

Purchase tickets here.

THE PRE-PARTY
Rock, Paper, Scissor Pre-Party @ SPACELAND
Friday, February 27, 8pm

Sneak Peak Performances by the NicheMakers, Ron English's Electric Illuminati, Mike Watt+thesecondmen & Special Guests. . . .

Tickets here.

T.C. Boyle @ Skylight Books

T.C. Boyle in Garrison, Ny Circa 1973 - Photo by Alan Arkawy

February 23, 2009 - 7:30pm @ Skylight Books

T.C. Boyle takes on (in fiction) legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and some of the women in his life.

T.C. Boyle is the author of eleven novels, including World's End, which won the 1987 PEN/Faulkner Award, The Tortilla Curtain, which has now sold over 400,000 thousand copies in paperback, and Drop City, a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award. He has also published eight collections of stories and was the recipient of the prestigious PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the short story. His stories appear regularly in The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, McSweeney's, and Playboy. He lives near Santa Barbara in The George C. Stewart House, the first private residence that Frank Lloyd Wright built in California, which is celebrating its centennial in 2009.

Find more info here.

Saturday @ BLUM & POE

Dave Muller iamthewalrus
February 21 - April 4, 2009

Opening reception: Saturday, February 21, 6 – 8 pm

Blum & Poe is pleased to announce their sixth solo exhibition by Los Angeles based artist Dave Muller. Being both a departure and a fine-tuning of previous concerns and obsessions, Muller’s latest exhibition, iamthewalrus, steals its title from the John Lennon song. Combining his signature acrylic washes with loose line-rendering on paper to create large scale works, Muller meditates on the development of individual and cultural identities and the sphere or “field” of music that envelops and accompanies them.

Visually playing with depictions of spheres and fields, juxtaposed with a variety of disparate images, this new body of work suggests a push and pull between transformation and immanence. To paraphrase John Peel on the band The Fall, “always different, always the same.” Where previous work focused on the physical manifestations of his music based obsessions, he now delves into their origins, making this show perhaps his most autobiographical work to date.

For more on this click here.

KAWS: The Long Way Home @ Honor Fraser

KAWS: The Long Way Home February 21 - April 4, 2009

Opening Reception
February 21, 2009
6:00 — 8:00 PM

Honor Fraser presents a solo exhibition of new work by KAWS.

The Brooklyn-based artist will be presenting new painting and sculptural work in his first solo show in Los Angeles. KAWS’ technique acts as a sieve of modern culture, filtering and re-contextualizing the images and information that he comes in contact with daily. His process is all encompassing, embracing popular culture and the visual landscape of the familiar. The work can be thought of as an overarching brand; however it is also immediate and organic.

This energetic immediacy can be felt in the selection of works that he is presenting. New large paintings included in the exhibition feature his usual cross-section of familiar cultural icons painted with precise execution. The resulting pieces feature the trademark graphic quality inherent in his work. A large life-size Chum acts as a sentry in the space, watching over the works while also playing with scale and proportion.

The Torn Curtain Film Series @ LACMA

Alexander Kluge on the set of Yesterday Girl (1966)

Yesterday Girl (Abschied von Gestern)
Friday, February 20 | 7:30 pm
Anita G., a penniless young refugee from the East (played by Kluge’s sister), wanders through the alien landscape of the “economic miracle” committing petty crimes. As Anita encounters judges, social workers, and bureaucrats, Kluge makes it clear that she's a product of a history that Germany wants to forget.

The All-Around Reduced Personality (Die allseitig reduzierte Persönlichkeit)
Friday, February 20 | 9:10 pm
Sander’s autobiographical film about three days in the fractured life of a single mother and photojournalist with “her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds” is rich in images of the divided city.

Escape from East Berlin
Saturday, February 21 | 7:30 pm
Directed by Hollywood film noir master Siodmak (The Killers, The Spiral Staircase) who returned to his native Germany in the mid-fifties, Escape was inspired by a true story about twenty-nine East Germans who fled Communist rule by tunneling under the Berlin Wall. With its emphasis on suspense over politics and its topical setting, the film was a success with US audiences.

Funeral in Berlin
Saturday, February 21 | 9:15 pm
In this sequel to The Ipcress File, bespectacled antihero Harry Palmer travels to Berlin to oversee the defection of a Soviet intelligence officer. As the double crosses pile up, Goldfinger director Hamilton keeps Caine hopping through such Berlin landmarks as the Kurfürstendamm, the Europa-Centre, the Tiergarten, Kreuzberg, and Checkpoint Charlie.

Full series and ticket information here.

FRIDAY 2.20 @ UCLA LIVE: Werner Herzog

UCLA Live Exclusive
Werner Herzog

One of cinema’s most visionary, enigmatic and controversial directors, German film auteur Werner Herzog creates extreme, larger than life narratives that often blur the boundaries of reality and fiction. His eccentric, over-the-top characters –from actor Klaus Kinski’s maniacal conquistador in the 1972 classic Aguirre, the Wrath of God to the doomed “grizzly bear expert” in the 2005 documentary Grizzly Man—are often quixotic outsiders who test the limits of humanity with ill-advised hubris. This fascinating discussion with Herzog will be moderated by Paul Holdengräber, director of public programs at the New York Public Library.

8:00pm - 9:30pm at Royce Hall, UCLA. Tickets available here.

Michael Fried @ LACMA

Lecture and Book Signing
Thursday, February 19 | 7:00pm

Michael Fried, J. R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities and the History of Art at Johns Hopkins University, has been writing about the development of modernism for over thirty years. In this lecture he will discuss his long-anticipated book, Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before, published in January by Yale University Press. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Bing Theater | Free, no reservations

ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero @ Skirball

February 19-August 9, 2009 @ SKIRBALL

Through never-before exhibited art and objects culled from private and institutional collections, ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950 explores the genesis of cultural icons such as Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, and Captain America.

The exhibition features rare vintage artwork and books, 1940s Hollywood movie serials, and colorful interactive displays including a drawing studio, a newsstand, a vintage Batmobile ride, and stations that allow children to dress up as Superheroes or transform themselves via a quick costume change in a telephone booth.

Guest curator Jerry Robinson brings a long history as a comic book industry insider to the exhibition. Working with Batman co-creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Robinson named Robin, Batman's young protégé. Robinson also co-created The Joker, Batman's nemesis and one of the first Super-Villains.

Related Lectures @ Skirball
Thursday, March 5, 8:00pm - Curator's Talk: The Golden Age of Comic Books w/ Jerry Robinson
Tuesday, May 12, 7:30 pm-From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books w/ Arie Kaplan

Spark's Valentine's Love Fest

(photo BBC)

No band demonstrates the boundary pushing qualities of classic glitter rock quite as well as Sparks, who, while virtually unknown here in the states, became certified screaming girl adored rock stars during the early seventies throughout Europe and Japan. The irony being that the band, essentially brothers Russell and Ron Mael, are Los Angeles natives, having grown up right here in the Pacific Palisades with both Maels attending UCLA.

All of which made Sparks much anticipated Los Angeles show this Valentines Day a genuine hometown celebration. The fact that it transpired as part of the UCLA Live series at the school’s historic Royce Hall only served to heighten this celebratory atmosphere. The band, which currently includes Red Kross bassist Steven McDonald, arrived on stage to a standing ovation and proceeded to play their brand new album, Exotic Creatures Of The Deep, in its entirety for the receptive sold-out crowd.

The live addition of younger musicians like McDonald, who appeared to be having the time of his life, served to inject an additional energy into the band's always unorthodox compositions. This was only augmented by the charming and surprisingly youthful fifty-six year old singer Russell Mael who careened around the stage with enthusiasm to spare as keyboardist brother Ron offered silent comedic asides. After an intermission, the band returned to reenact their much revered 1974 album Kimono My House, from start to finish. There was another heartfelt ovation, after which Sparks continued with what can only be described as a Valentine's love fest between the band and their rapturous fans.

Word came down from UCLA Live’s Artistic Director and apparent Spark’s fan, David Sefton, via singer Russell Mael, that it was alright to leave your seats and boogie in the aisles and crowd proceeded to do just that. For nearly an another hour Sparks played songs from their twenty one album catalog spanning not only glitter rock, but classic Giorgio Moroder era disco as well as a successful foray into eighties synth-pop. Towards the end, the only people who seemed more enraptured than the band’s gyrating fans were the Mael brothers themselves.
- John Albert

Mirror/Dash @ MOCA's Members Party for the Dan Graham Opening

Mirror/Dash (Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth) performs at MOCA Members' Opening night party for Dan Graham: Beyond. This is the first North American retrospective of the art of Dan Graham, examining his entire body of work in a focused selection of photographs, film and video, architectural models, indoor and outdoor pavilions, conceptual projects for magazine pages, drawings and prints, and writings.

Graham has been a central figure in the development of contemporary art since the 1960s—from the rise of minimalism, conceptual art, and video and performance art, to explorations of architecture and the public sphere and collaborations with musicians and the culture of rock and roll. Exhibition runs through May 25, 2009.

Photo by Catlin Meininger

For more opening night pictures click here.

@ REDCAT

February 17-18, 2009

Awaji Puppet Theater Company

Peerless in its uncanny integration of intricate three-person puppet manipulation, gorgeous costumes and sets, live shamisen music, and chanted narration, the Awaji Puppet Theater Company traces its roots to the originators of bunraku puppetry some 500 years ago--a legacy for which it has been named "Intangible Folk Asset" by the Japanese government.

Awaji now brings to Los Angeles three stunning works from the top shelf of its repertory: Hidaka-gawa Iriaizakura (The Cherry Trees Along the Hidaka River), an intense dance piece based on the famous folktale of a lovelorn woman transformed into a serpent; the lighthearted folk dance Ebisu-Mai (Dance of the Fisherman God); and Tsubosaka Reigen-ki (The Miracle at Tsubosaka Temple), a powerful traditional drama of intrigue and redemption in which a desparate couple commit double suicide but are reanimated through divine intervention.

Organized and produced by the Japan Society, New York, in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, MEXT; The Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program; The Jim Henson Foundation; and Awaji Ningyo Shibai Support Group.

Tickets available here.

NOW @ LACMA: The Two Germanys on Film

Michael Caine in Funeral in Berlin (1966)

Katzelmacher
Friday, February 13 | 7:30 pm
In this early film based on his own Brechtian play, a Greek guest worker (Fassbinder) living in a Munich suburb provokes the xenophobia and violence of his brutish neighbors when he begins dating a local girl.

Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen)
Friday, February 13 | 9:10 pm
In Herzog’s shocking allegory, cast entirely with dwarves and midgets and shot on the tropical island of Lanzarote, the inmates of a correctional institute revolt. “The anarchist uprising is a beautiful negation of bourgeois values, sometimes savage, but usually compassionate and amusing.”— Time Out.

The Third Generation (Die Dritte Generation)
Saturday, February 14 | 7:30 pm
A group of deluded and manipulated losers hole up in a house to plot the overthrow of the state. “A cruel and sometimes very funny comedy about terrorism… and one of the richest looking and sounding films I’ve ever experienced.”—Vincent Canby, The New York Times.

Not Reconciled (Nicht Versöhnt oder Es hilft nur Gewalt wo Gewalt herrscht)
Saturday, February 14 | 9:30 pm
A former assistant to Bresson, Renoir and Rivette, Straub presents a stark and rigorously compressed adaptation of Heinrich Boll’s Billiards at Half Past Noon. The lives of three generations of the Fähmel family, from the turn of the century through Nazi Germany to the mid-1960s, are intertwined in this influential and austere debut feature.

Spectral Wonders and the Physics of Sound

Sunday Morning Films
Sunday, February 15th 2009, 11:00 a.m.
Spectral wonders and the physics of sound

A multimedia presentation introduces the basic concepts behind the physics of sound and demonstrates how these acoustical properties shaped Grisey’s landmark composition Les Espaces Acoustiques.

Composer and mathematician Robert Wannamaker and conductor Michel Galante will take you on a tour through history of sound starting with Pythagoras, and will provide context for a brief live musical performance.

Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
5750 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tel. +1 323 5253388

Admission: $5 at the door, Free for Monday Evening Concerts subscribers and FoG
Info: +1 323 836 6632
Seating available on a first come first served basis
Free parking in the building

Kids Heart Authors @ Skylight Books

February 14, 2009 - 10:00am @ Skylight Books

As part of the nationally coordinated “Kids Heart Authors Day,” Skylight Books will be hosting six renowned local children’s authors for an event that will feature readings, prizes, snacks, and lots of time for kids and other attendees to mingle with their favorite local authors, ask questions, and find out more about writing and illustrating children’s books.

Light refreshments will be served, and prizes will be awarded throughout the event.

Skylight Books 1818 N. Vermont Ave.
For information: (323) 660-1175

Dan Graham: Beyond - MEMBERS OPENING PARTY

Dan Graham performing Performer/Audience/Mirror (1977) at Riverside Studios, London, 1979, courtesy of the artist, photo by Roland Fischer

SATURDAY, February 14 : 7–11pm

MOCA GRAND AVENUE
250 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012

MOCA is having another legendary opening party as they premiere Dan Graham: Beyond. The work of Dan Graham has been central to the development of art since the 1960s—from the rise of minimalism, conceptualism, and video and performance art to explorations of architecture and the culture of rock and roll.

Special performance by Mirror/Dash with Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
DJ sets by Tom Watson and Thurston Moore
Cash bar

MOCA members receive FREE admission for two. Tickets for two additional guests can be purchased at the door for $25 each.

Not a member? Call 213/621-1794, visit any MOCA Box Office, or log on to moca.org/members to become a MOCA member today. INFO 213/621-1794 or membership1@moca.org.

Be part of MOCA NOW—a fundraising campaign to sustain MOCA. Sign up, donate, and participate at www.mocanow.org

Angst in Your Pants?

SPARKS @ UCLA LIVE - 7.14

Returning from their monumental London live performance of all 21 of their albums in 21 nights, Sparks land in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day to perform two landmark albums in their entirety--- their most recent 'Exotic Creatures Of The Deep' and the 70's sensation 'Kimono My House', to be followed by a selection of assorted Sparks favorites.

Also, today on KCRW "Bookworm" Michael Silverblatt talks with his favorite rock band about the art of writing pop songs. Ron and Russell Mael, the brothers who make up Sparks, prove to be as zany, quirky and smart as their music.

Tickets to the UCLA Live show available here.

"You can dress nautical Learn to tie knots
take lots of Dramamine out on your yacht
but when you're all alone and nothing bites
you'll wish you stayed at home with someone nice
but when you think you made it disappear
It comes again, "Hello, I'm here"
and I've got angst in my pants"

@ REDCAT

February 12, 2009 - 8:30pm

Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy
A documentary by Reto Caduff

Charlie Haden has long been well respected among the all-time great jazz bassists. Charlie has gone on to make essential contributions to a wide spectrum of genres: avant-garde, small ensemble, big band, world music, folk and gospel. This new documentary from award-winning Swiss-born filmmaker Reto Caduff offers an absorbing chronicle of Haden's life and work--as instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, educator, political activist and family man.

A member of Ornette Coleman's incomparable quartet in the 1960s, Haden has since led his own Quartet West and the larger Liberation Music Orchestra, collaborating along the way with jazz giants Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and many others.

The most recent album from the CalArts Jazz Program founder is the Grammy-nominated Rambling Boy, a collection that harkens back to Haden's early days playing Americana and bluegrass on his parents' radio show. Charlie will be in attendance w/ Filmmaker Reto Caduff.

Tickets available here.

Cat Power @ the Avalon

Fresh off her tour with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the chaotic chanteuse Chan Marshall BKA Cat Power returns to Los Angeles today 2.10 & tomorrow 2.11 with The Dirty Delta Blues Band (featuring Judah Bauer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) @ the Avalon in Hollywood. Tickets available here.

For a Thin Man, He Can Sure Drink

I have a theory that every generation thinks they invented fun. Those who came before them were a bunch of lame asses and those that follow are suckers who showed up after the party ended when all the good songs were written and the good drugs already smoked- leaving only seeds, stems and Emo. Anyone who actually believes this hogwash should get down to the Cinefamily and check out the series of Thin Man double-features, playing Saturdays all through February.

Nick and Nora, the film series' heroes are having a blast. The stay in swanky hotels, go to parties and nightclubs and keep up a steady stream of witty banter while they solve crimes and mix it up with boxers and bums; pickpockets, prostitutes and police detectives; high-class dowagers and low rent showgirls. The best part is- they do it all WASTED.

From the first moment we see Nick giving an impromptu master class in mixology to his bartender through every twist and turn on the way to the killer's final unmasking, our two heroes keep shaking, stirring and swilling a non-stop parade of cocktails- and they do it with relish- no guilt, no recrimination, just unabashed glee at indulging in their drug of choice- like the Cheech and Chong of booze.

The joie de vivre of the films is enhanced by seeing them at Cinefamily's Silent Movie Theatre. Unlike LA's other great revival house, this is not a movie palace but a small neighborhood theatre founded with the quixotic mission of showing classic flicks that might otherwise be forgotten. Even though it too has been lovingly restored the result is not cold opulence but low-key quirky charm. Cinefamily gives the feeling that we were at a secret clubhouse for film-lovers sharing the experience of watching great movies on the big-screen.

As we're looking down the barrel of our own little depression, we could do a lot worse than taking our cues from Cinefamily and Nick and Nora and keep the good times shaking, no matter how rattled we get.

Plan your Cinefamily / Thin Man experience here.

Mike Mills @ CINEFAMILY

Cinefamily hosted the first installment of "Family Sundays", where their good friends at Family Bookstore (just down the road!) bring in their favorite people--artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, comedians, or generally inspiring folk--to curate and introduce a night of films once a month. The concept is first, they'll show lesser-seen short films that they've made, or that have been made about them--or that they just like. Afterwards, they'll show a feature that has personally influenced them, and finally they'll explain it all and take your questions too.

Last night @ Cinefamily, Family Books brought out artist/designer/filmmaker Mike Mills, who's directed music videos for Sonic Youth, Yoko Ono, Beastie Boys, Blonde Redhead and Ol' Dirty Bastard, as well as the film Thumbsucker, and the documentary Does Your Soul Have a Cold? And don’t forget about Deformer (about artist/skater Ed Templeton).

Medium is apparently less important to Mills' work than an encompassing vision that permeates all his diverse projects. Whether it's a television commercial, a watercolor painting, or a fabric design, everything Mills concocts is suffused by his current emotional and spiritual disposition. Last night Mike choose to show and share his thoughts about István Szabó's Lovefilm, a lesser-known 1970 masterpiece from the Czech New Wave.

Mike Mills explains World War II

Hadrian Belove of Cinefamily

Kramer of Family Bookstore

Who Needs Men When You've Got Bananas? Minsky's @ The Ahmanson

I pay my taxes. And I understand there are still some spots available on the team that President Obama is putting together to decide how to stimulate us. So I am volunteering and I've got an idea.

Burlesque. Yeah. Silly jokes, simple romantic songs and T n’ A.

I looked around the audience Friday night at the opening of MINSKY'S at the Ahmanson and everyone had a smile on their face and a leer in their eye. Even the straight ladies. Like they say in the show "a big flag and lot's of naked ladies dancing? That's America."

Apparently that's what got us through the Great Depression before film and T.V. became the touchstones of our national dialogue and I'm willing to bet your money that it can do it again. Look, I'd use my own but I've got two kids in private school and a huge Direc-tv bill...alright, alright, I know, we all have to make sacrifices right now.

Well... I love the school so I'm going to cancel the cable (the school would probably love that anyway) and start holding auditions.

No experience necessary, just a healthy body and a love for your country. We can all do that right?

Tony Award Winning Composer Charles Strouse
(Annie, Bye Bye Birdie) in rehearsals w/ Minsky's lyricist Susan Birkenhead @ CTG

MINSKY'S runs through March 1, 2009 at the Ahmanson Theatre. Tickets available here.

Downtown Art Walk This Thursday

Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Downtown Art Walk is a self-guided tour that showcases the many art exhibition venues in Downtown Los Angeles — commercial art galleries, museums, and non-profit arts venues.

TWO FREE Art Walk shuttles move visitors around the Downtown Art Walk from 6-10 pm. Pickups and stops are available on demand — just wave to the vehicle to stop or alert the driver to exit. The shuttle are vintage retrofitted 1940s school buses, and are hosted by Kim Cooper and Richard Schave of Esotouric, who curate them as moving performance venues. The north/south Gallery Row shuttle is called “The Hippodrome,” and the east/west shuttle is called “Hazard’s Pavilion.” Shuttle performance shedules are online. Hipodrome schedule here. Hazard's Pavilion schedule here.

The Art Walk Visa is now available! A great way to navigate the Downtown Art Walk using your smartphone or web enabled phone.

Music in the Biddy Mason Park Gallery at Hoagies and Wings on Broadway, 332 S. Broadway between 3rd & 4th St at Noon & 6:00 -11:00 p.m. Live Music: Ardom Belton: Jazz, Dez Hope : Acoustic Hip Hop, Nicholson: Punk Rap, Live art and DJ Sets by DJ Evan Lasry.

For more information click here.