By CHARLES ANDREWS
R.I.P. JIMMY CLIFF
I landed in L.A. from New Mexico, 11-year-old son Chris in tow, August 1980, a rocknroll-blues-country-classical-jazz full blown reggae fan (short for “fanatic”), eager to launch my career as a music journalist into a bigger pond. When I learned that BAM Magazine was looking for a comprehensive, authoritative history of reggae in L.A., my hand immediately shot up, followed by persuasive baloney as to why I was the man for the job, unleavened by the knowledge that a couple dozen locals I had already met were 100 times more qualified. But they didn’t raise their hands. I had quickly learned that’s how it works in the music biz. A few years later I did a memorable interview with former Turtles/Mothers Flo & Eddie who unashamedly bragged they had their entire careers based on that ethos: phone rings, somebody says can you do this, we say are you kidding we are bloody experts at that, we get the gig, then we figure out what the hell we’re doing, works every time. Almost.
Fortunately for me, I had run across Roger Steffens, the world’s foremost authority on Bob Marley and probably on reggae, period. He was kind enough to send me in all the right directions, with intros to the right people, and I wound up with a pretty good piece. Which, to my amazement, seemed to have been read within a day or two by EVERYbody, establishing me overnight as “that reggae guy.” I wore those red, green, and gold emperor’s new clothes with pride.
The truth was, living in Albuquerque the previous 30 years, I had never seen a live reggae band, and 97% of what I knew and so loved about reggae came from watching the all-Jamaican production “The Harder They Come” half a dozen years after it was released, when it finally arrived at The Guild art theater. Having heard Steffens nearly melt when describing how he felt the first time he heard The Wailers’ “Catch a Fire,” I kept my “Harder” secret for years. But when I finally confessed it to Roger, he immediately grinned and said, that’s how nearly every American was introduced to reggae – great film!
It is arguable that James Chambers (Cliff) was the second most important reggae artist ever. He left this earth just before Thanksgiving, at 81. Thank you, Johnny Too Bad, for so much. Rolling Stone named the soundtrack album, which included four of Cliff’s best compositions, in the Top 100 of All Time. Typically, they didn’t quite get it right. This album remains timeless musically, lyrically, and politically. It is in my Top 5, and I played it every morning for years. Time to watch the movie again, too. You can get it if you really want.
I SPENT A FEW YEARS IN ADVERTISING
Good money, but mostly wasted time on earth, selling other people’s stuff. But I did learn that you have to deliver a message over and over before people get it. So please indulge the two messages I slip in here every week:
Easiest way to find my two columns is to subscribe to my MUSIC, POLITICS, LIFE substack – free, no strings – and they will appear in your email. Go to:
And because Santa Monica is so worth saving from the destructive decisions of those whose philosophy is that more and more housing built here, denser and denser, is what we need above all else (note: that’s insane), I must continue to name the four City Council members who voted down the best proposal possible to restore our vaunted Civic Auditorium to performance life. Not because I, and many residents, disagree so strongly with that vote, but because it represents their philosophy that will be applied to all development here. Build, build, build.
CAROLINE TOROSIS (now our new Mayor) – NATALYA ZERNITSKYA – JESSE Huge Conflict of Interest ZWICK – DAN HALL
This is not just another venue. James Brown, Beatles, Ella, Duke, Louie, Frank, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, MLK Jr., Dalai Lama, not to mention The Oscars for eight years, and a much longer list. It would be a huge economic driver we so desperately need, and polish our tarnished reputation as an arts city.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Tonight! – LA OPERA, “LA BOHEME,” PUCCINI – Sorry, I didn’t get to attend this time, but like I wrote last week, I saw the same production, which has returned at least eight times to Dorothy Chandler (now, that’s a sign of something very good). I think I saw it in 2019, with a different cast, of course, and it was a treasure. Puccini was pretty good at this. Sunday’s final performance seems to have nothing left but the most expensive seats, so you might want to go TONIGHT, if possible. We will have to wait until March for the next LA Opera (but it is Philip Glass’s “Akhnaten,” spectacular for its music, sets, and costumes. See how Akh and his partner in crime, Nefertiti, shook up ancient Egypt, the Mediterranean Big Dog. Think of “La Boheme” as “Friends,” two centuries ago, having more raucous fun on a lot less money. LA audiences can relate to starving young artists. It’s a heartbreaker in the end, but the key, of course, is Puccini’s score. You probably wouldn’t recognize the Italian titles, but there are a couple of arias and a duet in the first two acts that may have you humming along (not too loud). No excuse for missing this classic, but you’ve got to hurry. Wed 7:30 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $38-435.
LA PHIL, MOZART, SIBELIUS – Oh boy, oh boy, ohboy. Sibelius AND Mozart’s sublime Violin Concerto No. 3, performed by Renaud Capuçon, praised by the LA Times as a violinist of “velvety tone and…a high degree of elegance,” well-suited to do justice to the Adagio Einstein claimed “seems to have fallen straight from heaven.” Wow. Throw out a few good math and physics theories, and now you’re a music critic? What’s his expert opinion on strudel? Roses? But – now you are going to listen carefully to it, aren’t you? The great story about Finland’s Jean Sibelius is that his music so moved a nation fighting Russian intrusion and clinging to nationals identity, that the government gave him a lifetime stipend so he could concentrate only on composing, after which he retreated to a country estate and loved to receive visitors’ adulation, but never wrote another major piece. The truth is close, but not quite as much fun. He is one of my favorite composers, and his first tops my list of his symphonies. Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $51-232.
“HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU” – 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 p.m., CNN
And if you are a fan of Wood, as I am, you might want to catch his special the following night, see above.
CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET w/ GERALD CLAYTON – I could tell you so many things about sax and flute master Charles Lloyd that your jaw would drop. You would start to think I was making it up. But, but, you might stammer if you were only a casual fan of jazz. I know this guy’s name, but… he’s not a legend. Well, yes, he is. He is still breaking barriers and receiving awards at 87, Downbeat Musician of the Year in 1967, and again year before last. First jazz artist to sell a million copies. First one to play at the Fillmore in its psychedelic rock era. Montreux Jazz Festival began because of a concert he did there. Cannonball, Chico, Cherry, Ornette, Keith Jarrett. Doors, Dead, toured with the Beach Boys. Countless world artists. Dropped out to Big Sur for most of two decades. (I saw him here shortly after that return, at Catalina’s in Hollywood, and he, you’ll pardon an old but appropos expression, blew my mind.) And on and on and on. I said I wouldn’t do that. The essence is, he is a completely original musician who explores the spiritual in his performances, and he has in his quartet for this show pianist Gerald Clayton, whom I place on the same rarefied mountaintop. This could easily be the best concert of the year in Los Angeles, at the very end of the year. It might even be the best concert of your life. Mon 7 and 9:30 p.m., Blue Note, Hollywood, $200.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9-11:30, 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:
Tonight! – JACKSHIT – Well, you still might not know Jackshit because, amazingly, kudos to booker Wayne Griffith, this Tues-Wed-Thurs mid-week booking of this niche act is sold out. Proving how hip the McCabe’s crowd is because Jack is really good, a lot country, a bit rock and roll, a dash of punk, and a barrel of attitude. And they can play. Only in LA. Wed, Thurs 8 p.m., McCabe’s, Santa Monica, $64.
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 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommend): JACKSHIT, McCabe’s, 12/10, 11; LA OPERA’s “LA BOHEME,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 12/10, 14; LA PHIL, MOZART, SIBELIUS, Disney Hall, 12/12, 13, 14; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 12/14, 21, 28; CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET w/ GERALD CLAYTON, Blue Note, 12/15; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar, 12/15, 22, 29;
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended): ALLMAN BETTS FAMILY REVIVAL, Orpheum Theatre, 12/20.
Charles 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
