By CHARLES ANDREWS
GOT LUNCH PLANS FOR SATURDAY?
Do they include saving our democracy, maybe the entire planet? (Never forget, he’s got the nuclear codes.) Standing up for immigrants, in this nation built on immigration? (No one is an “illegal” on stolen land.) Those of you who are many-generations native peoples, you’re good. In fact, you should be in charge. Raising a middle finger to wanna-be kings, and the evil oligarchy that has already taken over.
Oh, right, go stand in the street, how will that help? It will, several ways. It shows the world we don’t go along with this horror show. It encourages us all to see how many of us there are. And it gives The Beast pause. When no one stands up, The Beast barrels ahead full speed, but when there is pushback, it slows or stops. We have seen it over and over. For the cheetos cheater riding atop The Beast, this is all a reality TV show, and ratings are paramount.
Too many of us wring our hands, oh, what can I do? Well, this. It’s not much, really, and we will all need to do much more. But we can start here. I don’t think we will need to pick up a musket and march through the winter snow. We don’t even have to leave home. Let’s show the world Stephen Miller’s hometown is the last place on earth where he is welcome.
The third NO KINGS PROTEST could be our last chance. Hyperbole? I don’t think so. The fine fellows running Iran have shown any aspiring autocrat how to completely stop resistance. Shoot a few thousand, and make sure you have a backup army ready. On ice, you might say. I remember Kent State.
PALISADES PARK, north end, 11-1. Please be there.
Two Gotta-Mentions –
I don’t do full-blown reviews anymore, and this column is for personally recommended upcoming live performances. But…
VAN MORRISON released a new album (“Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge”) in January, his 48th, goodgawd! – and while I stick by something I figured out in college, that very few pop artists put out their best work, or even close, after their first three albums, there is the “opposite corollary” that certain artists, only a handful, masters, can surprise you decades in with some truly great work. I realized from his beginnings as a rocker that he was actually a jazz singer, jazz-blues, and that really shows up here, 60+ years after “Here Comes the Night” and “Baby Please Don’t Go.” 20 songs, some from blues masters like B.B. King and Lead Belly, some originals that sound old, a little boost from Taj Mahal and Elvin Bishop, and a terrific band and very soulful chorus. Can’t ever count out Van, or Charles Lloyd, or Bob.
I probably shouldn’t mention this one because it is long gone, but if you EVER have the opportunity, anywhere in the world, to take in the Philip Glass opera “Akhnaten,” do not do anything but clear your schedule of all else. I wound up seeing the very last performance staged by the LA Opera, and this glacially slow, narrative-sparse portrayal of the life of 35 years of a Pharaoh buried more than 3,000 years in the past, about whom little is known, sung in ancient Egyptian and Hebrew, was one of the most affecting works of art I have ever encountered.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – If you have gone to the new, expanded Ruskin Group Theatre at the airport – and I have always confidently recommended everything they present, from plays to spoken word Library Girl to the crazy Cafe LA Plays, you might have missed the smaller, tucked away Aubrey Theatre there, intended for smaller performances and – music. Perfect for that. And that music series launches on a perfect note on Saturday with a concert by the amazing Hot Club of Los Angeles, a Django-style ‘30s-’40s group who just plays the living ship out of their instruments. Mostly they blaze, but they poke around too at different styles while adding a modern California touch to the classics. I have never heard anyone walk away from one of their shows and say, “They’re pretty good.” Usually, it’s hard to say anything when your jaw is on the ground. Sat 8 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $30.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – The HCOLA don’t claim to play note-for-note Django, but they are the spot-on purveyors of his spirit, and I think if he were to walk into
RECOMMENDED:
NICK LOWE – A Brit legend. Rockpile. So much great solo work. But if he doesn’t do “Crawling from the Wreckage,” I’m starting a fight. Fri 8 p.m., Bellwether, LA, $54-65.
TOLEDO DIAMOND – Who’s been showing up even longer than the Hot Club, with a very different but also virtuosic show? 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 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. Toledo is perhaps the longest-running proof that Santa Monica is a City of the Arts. Sun 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
UCLA-USC College Night – You’re thinking, right, college kids, they’re probably pretty good, but I’d rather see the pros, but think about it, they’re passionate and putting all their time and energy into becoming great musicians, as soon as possible. My daughter graduated from UCLA in Ethnomusicology, they had one practice room devoted to sitars, she traveled with classmates and their professor to perform Bulgarian folk songs to Bulgarians at a big festival there, Herb Alpert built the building they all studied and performed in, and Kenny Burrell was head of the jazz department. And USC is famous for its Thornton School of Music. Not to mention the Bruin – Trojan rivalry. This should be more than good. Wed 7:30, 9:30 p.m., Sam First, LAX, $34.
TV RECOMMENDATIONS:
“THE DAILY SHOW” – Mon – Thurs 11 p.m., COMEDY CENTRAL.
“HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU” – You can learn a lot from this show, but, nah, it’s all about the newsworthy jokes and satire. Sat 9 p.m., CNN.
‘“DARK WINDS” – I don’t understand how this was passed by for awards consideration. Based on the very popular series of murder mysteries by Tony Hillerman, set on the Navajo Reservation, his daughter Anne took up the series after he died and added a female police officer, and her novels have all hit the NY Times bestseller lists. Four years ago, Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin began producing shows that combined some novels by both Hillermans, and the results have been spectacular. Stunning NM scenery, great stories integrating Native American spiritual beliefs (sometimes metaphysically scary), superb soundtrack, and a phenomenal cast of nearly all Indigenous Peoples. The fourth season started this past Sunday on AMC and also airs on AMC+. The previous three seasons are available on Netflix, and I seriously recommend you binge-watch them all first. You will thank me. Sundays 9 p.m., AMC, AMC+.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): NICK LOWE, Bellwether, 3/27; “HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU,” CNN Sat 9 p.m., 3/28; ANNE HILLERMAN’S “DARK WINDS,” Season 4, AMC/+, 3/29, 4/4; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 3/29; UCLA-USC College Night, Sam First, 4/1; ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES, Belasco, 4/3; FRED HERSCH TRIO, Jazz Bakery, 4/11; DAVID BYRNE, Santa Barbara Bowl, 4/14; SAMARA JOY, Blue Note LA, 4/15, 16;
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended): LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 417, 5/ ;VERDI “FALSTAFF,” LA OPERA, 4/18, 26, 30, 5/2, 6, 10; TAKE 6, Blue Note LA, 4/30-5/3; STANLEY CLARKE’S SANTA MONICA INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, BroadStage, 5/1-9; MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO, Blue Note LA, 5/4, 5; LA SANTA CECILIA, Fonda Theatre, 5/7; MOZART “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” LA OPERA, 5/30, 6/6, 11, 14, 17, 21.
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 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to: therealmrmusic@gmail.com.
