By CHARLES ANDREWS
DAN HALL
NATALYA ZERNITSKAYA
CAROLINE TOROSIS
JESSE ZWICK
First, these public service announcements.
People tell me it’s not always easy to find a copy of The Mirror on Fridays. Nor to remember to search online on the right day. So make it easy on yourself, if you want to find my two columns:
Subscribe to my MUSIC, POLITICS, LIFE substack – free, no strings – and they will show up in your email. Go to:
Now, as for the names above of the four City Council members who voted against a zero-cost proposal from the exceptionally credible RPG Group to bring our historic Civic Auditorium back to performance status… I have mentioned them or even pictured them in every column since they made that indefensible vote, to leave that historic building open to bulldozing for more housing, or bulldozing for other purposes. The land is worth a lot more without that building on it.
Am I obsessed? No, merely aware of how consequential this is for our future, and how it is just a first step for their vision of Santa Monica densification.
More on this in Friday’s CURIOUS CITY column.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
MEHTA LEADS BRUCKNER’S EIGHTH – India-born Zubin Mehta led the LA Philharmonic from the early ‘60s through the late ‘70s, instrumental as a revered conductor in shaping the orchestra toward its present stature. He has always loved 19th-century Austrian composer Anton Bruckner and especially his complex Eighth Symphony, which he has been studying and conducting for over seven decades. He’s probably pretty good with it by now, don’tcha think? Parts of it are dissonant, parts soaring, and others, to quote Mehta, are “deeply Romantic” and lyrical in a way that “will break your heart.” I’ve seen him conduct Bruckner before, and you should not pass up this gift. And as I wrote this, there were still some Saturday tickets for 20 bucks – unbelievable. But well worth whatever you pay. Fri 7 p.m., Sat, Sun 2 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $20-206.
“HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU” – Elevated, from now on, to HIGHLY status. Because it is that good. Panel game show format takes on politics and current events, but it’s more important to be funny than right. Often hilarious. The chaos is overseen by one of my favorites, Roy Wood Jr., but his two team captains, Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, dish up the biggest laughs, most of them spontaneously. Sometimes they have a lame guest panelist on, but Michael, Amber, and Roy carry the show. Every Sat, 9:00 p.m., CNN
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9:00-11:30, free, for almost 14 years now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhardt-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free.
RECOMMENDED:
TOLEDO DIAMOND – His decades-long Sunday night residency at Santa Monica’s Harvelle’s, the oldest blues bar in LA (almost a century!), is the stuff of myth. Toledo choreographs (literally) a truly unique show, a blend of ‘50s hipster jazz and his dancing dames and a most modern smokin’ hot band that gets better all the time. Sun 9:00 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13..
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): MEHTA LEADS BRUCKNER’S EIGHTH, LA PHIL, Disney Hall, 11/7, 8, 9; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 11/9, 16, 23, 30, 12/7, 14, 21, 28; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar, 11/10, 17, 24, 12/1, 8, 15, 22, 29; OZOMATLI, Venice West, 11/14, 12/12; PATTI SMITH, “HORSES,” Disney Hall, 11/15; LA THREE, Sam First, 11/15; RICK HOLSTROM BAND with STEVE BERLIN, McCabe’s, 11/16;
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended): DAVID BYRNE, Dolby Theatre, 11/20, 21; DJANGO FESTIVAL ALL STARS, Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, 11/20; ROBERT PLANT’S SAVING GRACE, United Theater on Broadway, 11/22, WP with Valley Events Center, 11/23; LA OPERA’s “LA BOHEME,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 11/22, 30, 12/4, 6, 10, 14; THREE VISITORS, Jazz Bakery, 11/23; DENGUE FEVER, Venice West, 12/5; JACKY TERRASSON TRIO, Sam First, 12/5, 6; JACKSHIT, McCabe’s, 12/9, 10, 11; LA PHIL, MOZART, SIBELIUS, Disney Hall, 12/12, 13, 14; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Theatre, 12/14; CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET w/ GERALD CLAYTON, Blue Note, 12/15Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,500 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 39 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to: therealmrmusic@gmail.com.
