8.28.2009

Tonight @ the EchoPlex - The Incredible Brazilian Psych-Pop Band Os Mutantes

Os Mutantes

The music made by Brazilian psych-pop band Os Mutantes in the late 1960s and early 70s is panic at its most colorful. Put on a song from one of their early albums, listen for five seconds, skip ahead 30, and you're likely to hear vastly different moods. Their 1999 retrospective was called Everything Is Possible! because, I guess, they actually believed it was, and all within the confines of three minutes: garage-rock boogie squirming under wailed Portuguese, bossa nova torn apart by homemade effects pedals, musical theater, sound effects, and the most unencumbered goofiness this side of first grade.

It doesn't hurt that they founded the group as teenagers and that two of the group's main members, Arnaldo Baptista and Rita Lee, were compulsive acid-eaters (a ritual that likely precipitated Arnaldo's appearances at mental hospitals throughout the 70s). When they were upbeat, they sounded manic; when they were slothful or stoned, they sounded suicidal. (Arnaldo did, eventually, jump out a window. Improbably, he lived.) Noting their extremity isn't to overemphasize an underbelly in their music-- consider it "romantic," if that seems less grisly-- but to acknowledge a delirium in their sound that distinguished them from both American psych-pop bands and the musicians working in Brazil's Tropicalia movement of the late 60s.
- Pitchfork

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Also on Saturday - Los Angeles Conservancy Art Deco Walking Tour



The Art Deco tour is an in-depth look at the history, materials, and style of Art Deco architecture popular in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s.

Officially debuted at the 1925 L'Exposition Internationale des Artes Decoratifs et Industriels Moderne in Paris, the style now known as Art Deco took the western world by storm. New, modern, and angular, the style was perfect for the machine age, and was used for everything from jewelry to teapots to skyscrapers.

Typified by vertical lines, geometric patterns, and references to Gothic, pre-Columbian, and Egyptian art, Art Deco is stunning in its varieties of color and design. Downtown Los Angeles boasts an extraordinary collection of Art Deco buildings, due to a building boom during the heyday of this architectural style.

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Tomorrow Night @ HEATH CERAMICS


Eli Bonerz aka Eli 'Alexander' (Founder of XLARGE CLOTHING & now partner in the uber hip outdoor furniture venture 'PAD OUTDOOR' ) and Adam Silverman (Atwater Pottery, Heath Ceramics and also former Co- Owner of X-LARGE Clothing) reunite for the launch party of Pods, indoor/outdoor aluminum planters made by Pad Outdoor on August 29, 6-8pm at Heath LA. They're already selling them in their stores and getting a great response. Get em' while they're hot - Go Here to RSVP.

Related -

Art: Architecture/Design

Panel discussion on Edith Heath and Heath Ceramics

Pasadena Museum of California:

Join the PMC for a panel discussion on Edith Heath and Heath Ceramics.


Edith Heath began as a studio potter in San Francisco and established Heath Ceramics in 1947 to meet the growing demand for her dinnerware and accessories. She focused on simple, minimalist style although her process was characterized by innovation and experimentation. Her use of unique glazes and clay underscored her belief that quality does not have to be sacrificed for mass production and accessibility.



8.27.2009

NO AGE Live @ CINEFAMILY to score Jean-Jacques Annaud's 'THE BEAR'

TWO SHOWS This Sunday August 30th
@ 8p & 1030p


The Bear with a live score by Sub Pop Recording Artist No Age


L.A.-based, world-renowned experimental noise pop duo No Age will appear live at the Cinefamily to perform their brand-new score for Jean-Jacques Annaud's majestic 1988 film The Bear, a near-wordless cinematic expedition deep into the savagery and tenderness of the animal kingdom. Told from the titular species' point of view, The Bear chronicles the journey of an orphan bear cub and a lone adult bear banding together to avoid two human hunters. Along the way, director Annaud has great fun with the storytelling possibilities from a non-human perspective, including dream sequences and an unforgettable psychdelic mushroom bear trip! With nearly no (human) dialogue, the film easily lends itself to live scoring, and No Age drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall have crafted a shimmering 90-minute set of sonic blasts and delicate textures that perfectly complement the peculiar, touching and altogether unique experience that is The Bear.

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Picasso + Scriabin Mash Up at Norton Simon


Picasso and Scriabin: Master Manipulators of Color
Performance by Jade Simmons
Friday, August 28, 7:00 pm @ Norton Simon

Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and Russian composer Alexander Scriabin were near- contemporaries who shared an obsession with color. Scriabin, a synesthete, perceived specific color in relation to musical keys, whereas Picasso's artistic periods are organized by his fascination with various color families. This performance of Scriabin's 24 Preludes from Opus 11 is reorganized by the "color" of their keys in order to coincide with the Blue, Green and Rose periods of Picasso's career. The performance is preceded by a brief lecture on the ties between the artists' aesthetics and influences.

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8.25.2009

Wednesday at CINEFAMILY - Male and Female starring Gloria Swanson


Gloria Swanson's iconic performance as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard is exponentially more affecting in light of its echoing her own life. Swanson's formidable career as a Silent superstar waned with the advent of Talkies, but those who've seen her in one of many silent turns for Cecille B. DeMille will marvel at a romantic lead and fashion icon whose otherworldly command of the screen elicited countless movie-house sighs. DeMille's Male And Female is a special treat, as it's an adaptation of a play by Peter Pan scribe J.M. Barrie. Swanson's onscreen transition from aristocratic haughtiness to humbled maturity ensured the film's position as Paramount's biggest hit of 1919. If you can tear your eyes away from Swanson, look out for a scene which features an actual chloroformed leopard!

Dir. Cecil B. Demille, 1919, 16mm, 116 min. *16mm print courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences*

8.21.2009

2010 MARK TAPER FORUM SEASON ANNOUNCED

In a season that had to make concessions to the changing economy, the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum has announced a 2010 lineup that includes David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow," directed by Neil Pepe, Martin McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," Rajiv Joseph's "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" and Judith Ivey in the Long Wharf Theatre production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie."

The season, announced today by Michael Ritchie -- artistic director of CTG, which oversees the Taper, the Ahmanson Theatre and Culver City's Kirk Douglas Theatre -- also includes the touring production of Broadway's "Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps" and the world premiere of a musical which CTG describes as featuring "the work of one of America's greatest living singer/songwriters," with title and details to be announced soon.

The new season opens Feb. 21 with "Speed-the-Plow" and runs through Dec. 19 but leaves empty most of the month of June. In an interview Thursday, Ritchie said that leaving one month open for programming that will be scheduled later is an effort on the part of CTG to take advantage of the fact that more and more theatergoers seem to be forgoing the subscription model and making their ticket-buying decisions at the last minute.

“We’re being somewhat opportunistic there,” Ritchie said. “As you’ve seen at the Douglas for the last couple of years, we’ve done that and filled our time well … we’re trying to break out of a rigid model of producing with the hopes that we may be able to expand that to the Taper and, potentially, the Ahmanson, although it gets more complicated the larger the theater gets.”

“Bengal Tiger,” set in Iraq, had its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in May and was a hit with critics and audiences (read Charles McNulty's review). Moises Kaufman will direct, and Ritchie said the Taper hopes to utilize as much of the original cast as possible. “Bengal Tiger” is not being announced as a pre-Broadway production but Ritchie said “we would certainly like to see it move further than the Taper.”

Casting has not been announced for Mamet’s Hollywood satire “Speed-the-Plow,” but it will be directed by Pepe, who directed the 2008 Broadway revival of the 1988 play, and Ritchie said that the Taper is seeking to employ the same designers and as much of the Broadway cast as possible. “Yes, you could say it is a re-creation of the Broadway production,” he said.

Ritchie said the weak economy that has existed during the Taper’s ongoing season has affected the programming choices made for this season; “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” was postponed from the ongoing season to the upcoming one. CTG also dropped a show from its Kirk Douglas Theatre schedule, “Heddatron,” and cut its overall administrative costs during the ongoing season.

"The economy definitely affected this particular season; it forced a show from last year into this season," Ritchie said. "However, in this [2010] season we have some large-scale shows, 'Inishmore' and a new musical, and we believe we weathered the worst of the economic crisis by being extremely proactive, cutting back on our administrative costs and offering our 100,000 tickets at $20 to spur audiences to get in the doors, and we managed our expenses very well."

On a positive note, Ritchie said that the most recent round of Ahmanson season subscription renewals set a record this year and added: “A hit is a hit in any economy,” he said. “The onus is on us to produce the shows that people want to see.”

The Taper season:

Feb. 21-March 21: “Speed-the-Plow”
April 25-May 30: “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”
April 28-May 16: “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps”
June 30-Aug. 8: “The Lieutenant of Inishmore”
Sept. 12-Oct.17, 2010: “The Glass Menagerie”
Nov.21-Dec. 19: A world premiere musical (details to be announced)


Via Culture Monster

MIKE JUDGE @ THE AERO THEATER TONIGHT!

It's hard to believe it's been 17 years since Mike Judge's cultural icons Beavis and Butt-head played their first game of frog baseball on MTV's Liquid Television, spreading their message of nachos and fire. The Beavis and Butt-head decade culminating in a big screen movie was followed by television's second longest running animated show, "King of the Hill," an innovative Emmy-award- winning cartoon that does not stray far from real life. Judge, the Austin, Texas-based creator, writer and director, also supplied his unique vocal talents to both shows, bringing to life everyone from champion father Hank Hill and the clarity-impaired Boomhauer to teenage metal heads Beavis and Butt-head as well as the liberal community college administrating dad in his latest show "The Goode Family." A true champion of animation, Judge, along with fellow animator Don Hertzfeldt, run a very successful touring animation festival called "The Animation Show," which screens shorts including the works of many independent filmmakers. Not new to live action, Judge's 1999 cult comedy, OFFICE SPACE, has become one of film history's most quotable movies, a sharp satire needling the numbing existence of office life. The hilarious and bold satire of the future of the American dream, IDIOCRACY, was unfortunately given a limited release but has become an underground hit based on it's own merit.

More Here....


8.20.2009

Tonight! Dave Eggers @ SKYLIGHT BOOKS!

As previously posted here on Tillage, Dave Eggers the founder and editor of McSweeney's will be making his debut appearance at Skylight Books tonight. Dave will be reading and signing his new non-fiction book Zeitoun. Get there early!

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Farmlab Public Salon | Art Fraud in L.A. with Detective Don


Farmlab Public Salon
Detective Don Hrycyk
Friday, August 21, 2009 @ Noon | FREE

Los Angeles is the second largest center for the visual arts in the U.S. This has attracted art thieves and conmen (and women) who have often targeted the cultural heritage of the city. LAPD's two-detective Art Theft Detail has investigated many of these crimes involving not only art but other types of cultural property including rare books, musical instruments, fossils, and Hollywood movie props. These crimes involve not only theft of art but also fakes, fraud and forgeries. Detective Don Hrycyk will discuss some of these cases and profile the type of art criminals who prey on artists, art dealers and collectors.

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Sonic Environments + Locative Enigmas + Magical Realism = REDCAT’s 2009 Fall Season


REDCAT announced its most international and ambitious season yet today. Influential artists and thinkers from over 25 countries are bringing our theater, gallery and lounge to life with provocative new work exploring our rapidly changing world. They are confronting vital issues, inventing new artistic forms, challenging traditions and inspiring audiences. for a full lineup of their '09 Fall lineup GO HERE...

8.18.2009

This Saturday - TEN YOUNG LA PAINTERS @ Steven Turner Contemporary


WET PAINT: TEN YOUNG LA PAINTERS

August 22 thru August 29
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 22, 6 - 10p

Steve Turner Contemporary presents - WET PAINT: Ten Young LA Painters, an eight day exhibition showcasing works created during the past few months by ten talented local artists. The process of selection began with recommendations from local instructors and other artists, and over the course of four months, the original pool of one hundred and fifty candidates was gradually reduced to ten artists: Daniel Cummings, Michael Dopp, Greg Kozaki, Anne McCaddon, Caitlin Lonegan, RJ Messineo, Michael Rey, Ana Rodriguez, Conrad Ruiz and Rowan Wood.

Opening night taco truck schedule:

6 - 8PM Kogi Korean BBQ
8 - 10PM Don Chow Mexican Chinese Fusion

WET PAINT is now up. Visitors welcome between 11 - 6 on Tuesday
through Friday, August 18 - 21.

From August 22 through August 29, 2009, the gallery will be open every day from 11 AM to 9 PM. Each evening from 6 PM to 9 PM, at least two of the painters will be at the gallery to discuss his or her work.

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8.17.2009

Dave Eggers in-Store @ Skylight Books This Thursday

Thursday, August 20, 730p

Dave Eggers will be at Skylight Books for the first time reading and signing his new nonfiction book Zeitoun, about the trials of one man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, during and after Hurricane Katrina. should be insanely crowded...get there early!

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8.14.2009

David Lebrun's PROTEUS Tonight @ CINEFAMILY


Man's dream of uniting nature and art forms the subject of Proteus, the first feature from avant-garde filmmaker David Lebrun. Proteus is a one-of-a-kind investigation into 19th-century artist/biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose major work "Art Forms in Nature" synthesized his two disparate passions by presenting gorgeous hand-drawn lithographs of 4,000 species, all of which were previously unidentified single-celled sea creatures called radiolarian. Lebrun, who reportedly spent two decades making the film, found the ideal way to convey Haeckel's unique images: by taking the actual drawings and animating them in ways that make the splendiferous orbs and tentacles dance in carefully choreographed arrays. In the end, Lebrun makes us contemplate the majestic vastness of the natural universe and its complex artistic perfection in ways that only Haeckel could have imagined.

Proteus Dir. David Lebrun, 35mm, 2004, 60 min.
The Hellstrom Chronicle Dirs. Ed Spiegel & Walon Green, 1971, 35mm, 90 min.

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Benny Chan TRAFFIC! at PMCA

Sunday, August 16th @ PMCA
Artist Talk | 3 – 4 pm
Benny Chan discusses TRAFFIC!

Chan has worked diligently over the past few years to photograph overhead views of Los Angeles freeways during the height of rush hour. Using a camera designed and manufactured exclusively for this project, Chan has taken pictures from high in the sky from a helicopter and has rendered monumental sized prints. With his almost omniscient perspective, Mr. Chan explores and sheds light on the conundrum of traffic as a symptom of a society being unable to keep pace with its own expansion, while at the same time rendering a serene beauty from the chaotic scene.

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8.13.2009

Built to Spill + Mika Miko + Conor Oberst = Sunset Junction Street Fair

Mika Miko

29th Annual Sunset Junction Street Fair
August 22 & 23, 2009

Saturday Highlights :
OLLIN \ DENGUE FEVER / Les NUBIANS \ NICO VEGA / CONOR OBERST & the MYSTIC VALLEY BAND

Sunday Highlights:
VERY BE CAREFUL \ MIKA MIKO / RITMO FLAMENCO \ CODY CHESTNUTT / BUILT TO SPILL

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8.11.2009

Art Walk Tomorrow Night - Downtown Los Angeles

Thursday, August 13th
6 to 9pm
FREE

Go to the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk that is held every second Thursday afternoon and evening in and around the Historic Core's Gallery Row neighborhood. This exceptional neighborhood Art Walk is held for one night each month in Downtown LA . The Art Walk is a vibrant scene that draws locals and tourists seeking an authentic urban experience.

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Sarah Silverman @ LARGO Tomorrow Night

Sarah Silverman and very special guests @ Largo.

Wednesday August 12.

Doors 8PM, showtime 9PM.

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A Clip of Sarah's Early Standup Below


8.10.2009

2009 Mak Center Architecture Tour | Eastside Modernity

2009 MAK Architecture Tour
Silverlake/Los Feliz Mid-Century Modernism

Sunday, October 4th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The MAK Center Architecture Tour 2009 features the stunning landmark How House (R.M. Schindler, 1926). One of only 3 houses in which Schindler employed concrete, this early masterpiece has been beautifully restored and added to the Historic Registry. Six additional Mid-Century residences in Silverlake and Los Feliz round out the tour, dating from 1926 through 1964 and featuring the work of Gregory Ain, Raphael Soriano, Harwell Harris and Craig Ellwood.

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8.07.2009

Mike Nichols + Monty Python = SPAMALOT

NOW Through September 6 @ The Ahmanson

Directed by Mike Nichols, SPAMALOT features book and lyrics by Eric Idle, and is based on the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Music is by the Grammy Award-winning team of John Du Prez and Idle. Recount the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail, featuring a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits, and an armless and legless knight.

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8.06.2009

Riot on the Sunset Strip | Terry Southern's CANDY


Thursday, August 6 – 7:30 PM @ The Egyptian
CANDY, 1968

One of the most wildly underrated films of the 1960s, CANDY uses the pornographic adventures of an innocent teenage sexpot (played by Swedish bombshell Ewa Aulin) on an odyssey across America as an opportunity to satirize the military, 1960s hippie idealism, middle-class morality and more. Songs by The Byrds and Steppenwolf, along with Dave Grusin’s amazingly good pop-psychedelic score.

Introduction to the screening by Domenic Priore and Chuck Zigman (a mentee of Terry Southern).



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8.05.2009

Wesley Willis - Joyrides at CINEFAMILY

Thursday, 8pm | Wesley Willis' Joyrides @ Cinefamily

Despite impossible odds, self-proclaimed rock 'n roll star and "Chicago City Artist" Wesley Willis became an underground rock icon, revered artist and hero to many before his untimely death in 2003. Through his force of personality, his drawing talents, his unique vocabulary and an incredibly focused and singular songwriting style, Wesley’s creativity attracted people from all walks of life, and helped him to overcome the daily torment of schizophrenia, a haunting condition which plagued him throughout his adult life.

Directors Kim Shivley and Chris Bagley will be here live at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the screening, and Peanut Butter Wolf will be spinning records both before and after the films!

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MOCA Engagement Party | Interactive Lecture Series

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 7–10pm
MOCA Grand Avenue, Ahmanson Auditorium

For this collective’s final Engagement Party event, OJO, along with special guests as well as members of the audience, will create an abnormal lecture experience. Presenting talks on various topics, members of OJO will take up position beside the lectern as the house band, using audio trickery to affect the audience’s reception of live speech. Focusing on specific words and phrases in order to induce listeners to react in all sorts of ways, their interventions should lead to a chaotic and memorable lecture.

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8.04.2009

Cause for Creativity | Tour Da Arts with SMMOA

Saturday | August 22nd

Join SMMoA and C.I.C.L.E (Cyclists Inciting Change through Live Exchange) for a special art-making workshop and cultural bike tour that begins at the museum and loops through the city of Santa Monica.

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8.03.2009

THOMAS PYNCHON on sale at midnight - Skylight Books

Pynchon's latest novel is classic California noir as seen through the eyes of the lovechild of Philip Marlowe and The Dude. T.P. spent some early years on the beach and wrote much of Gravity's Rainbow in a SoCal apartment and in his usual attention to detail has created a singular vision to add to the genre. All the Pynchonian buzzers are buzzing in this hilarious novel in which nothing is what it seems and chaos is the only rule. You can be one of the first to pick up what is being touted as his most "readable" novel at midnight tonight at Skylight Books.

More info here

Sparkle & Twang | The Boots of Hank Williams @ The Autry

Hank Williams' Boots and Hat

The Autry presents Sparkle and Twang : Marty Stuart's American Musical Odyssey. This uniquely American collection underscores the importance of style and sound with performance costumes, handwritten lyrics, personal letters, musical instruments, and unpublished photographs of such legends as Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Porter Wagoner, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. The fashion-rich collection includes such items as Elvis Presley's sweater, Jerry Lee Lewis's black boots, Johnny Cash's white tuxedo, a Bob Dylan outfit, and a Patsy Cline dress.

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