By CHARLES ANDREWS
AFTER ALMOST FIVE DECADES OF SEEING THE ARTS EXPLODE
Every summer in LA, after the post-Christmas doldrums, I am no longer surprised. But some summers are better than others, and you never know. This one is starting off pretty dang promising. Yes, I know, this happens in almost every big city. But as I’ve been observing, and cheekily putting in print since 1980, LA has more excellence in a wider diversity of offerings than any place you can name.
Go ahead. I’m waiting. From bluegrass to the cowpunk scene to true country music, to unexpected offerings at the Getty and Skirball and the Hammer, to world class jazz, reggae, hip hop, blues, electronic, Brazilian, Ethiopean, French, Cambodian, and every variety of rock and roll and Central and South American genres, to the Silverlake scene and Billie Eilish making magic in her bedroom in her family’s modest Highland Park home where she lived exclusively until after her 10th Grammy (still there but also has a horse ranch in Glendale), and let’s not overlook the LA Philharmonic and the LA Opera. That just scratches the music offerings. How about the life-altering spoken word performances offered just blocks from each other at the new Ruskin Group Arts Center in Santa Monica and the venerable Beyond Baroque in Venice, the Pantages, Mark Taper, Actors’Gang, the Geffen, Kirk Douglas Theatre, the Broad, Theatricum Botanicum… I ain’t gonna write a guidebook here. You get the picture. What do you want? We’ve got it, or will by August.
I can’t cover it all; I don’t even know it all, but if you refer to this column every Wednesday in the Santa Monica Mirror, you’ll probably have all you can handle.
On their way to a record-setting win streak in the NBA playoffs, D. Trump found yet one more good thing he could mess up, by being the first president to attend a finals series game. (All the others had the good sense to know what a distraction that would be.) You know he fell asleep. And left with seven minutes remaining, before the exciting game was decided in the final minute. NBA Commish Adam Silver should be ashamed of the cover he gave Trump in his little speech before the game. And since the prez came and went without incident or a thousand Secret Service guards, does he really need a billion-dollar ballroom?
I do believe I have had enough.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – This rockin’ quintet, known for Django Reinhardt-style ‘30s-’40s jazz (for starters, but they go way beyond), whose across-the-board virtuosity never fails to bring a smile. I have never heard anyone walk away from one of the HCOLA shows and say, “They’re pretty good.” Usually, it’s hard to say anything when your jaw is on the floor. Still at their years-long residency at the intimate Cinema Bar just outside Santa Monica, every Monday night. Lucky us. Take advantage. Now also at a new venue that looks pretty chill, first Wednesday of the month at Bar Jubilee, West Hollywood, also no cover charge. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
MOZART, “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA – Allllllright, then! This is a pretty fine way to end the season (and order your season tickets for next year; start with “Carmen”), it is a mind-bending production you have to see. I did see the same unique, marvelous stage design, a set evoking silent movies and cartoonish figures. Absolutely delightful, and gives you a new perspective on this Mozart masterpiece. I saw it in 2019, so I can enthusiastically recommend it, without hearing the performers, but come on, is the LA Opera going to have anyone but the best? No more LA Opera until October. Three performances this week, then two the final week. No more tickets at $49, but $79 is still a steal for this. Mozart was, once again, broke when he wrote this, in ill health; this would be his final opera, and perhaps his most popular. It had all the right elements, and a perfect place to run it, but he was gone within a couple of months after the opening. Thurs, next Wed 7:30 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $79-440.
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – I swear, you finally get these thespians and teachers into their new facility after a couple years of frustration, and they seem to think they need to knock it out of the park every time now. Another two-actor play (but three characters), this is such a creative setting: two very different half-brothers on separate continents, connecting first by Zoom and then in person after so many years of chosen separation, but now having to deal with the decline of their mother. Emotionally fascinating, and wrenching. Superb screenplay by highly decorated Samuel D. Hunter. You may want to see this a second time. Sat, Mon 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
“ROMEO AND JULIET,” Theatricum Botanicum – Oh boy, oh boy, the TB summer season begins, with an obscure old love story, let me tell you what the tale is… OK, you know it, you’ve seen it so many times in so many forms but not like this. TB is known for its Shakespeare, and where else can you relax in Topanga Canyon on a balmy evening in an outdoor setting, and watch one of literature’s greatest love stories unfold? Sat 7:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
“A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM,” Theatricum Botanicum – See above. They should be pretty good at this one because they performed it their first season in 1973, and every season since, so this is the 54th version of it. Always a crowd pleaser, and great for kids too. These days, so much better than the Kennedy Center. Sun 3:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
RECOMMENDED:
LIBRARY GIRL, “Punk Hostage Press Confidential “ – Co-curated by founder Susan Hayden and LA literary legend Iris Berry. Now in its 17th year, you are missing out if this is not on your calendar for the second Sunday of every month. I had a customized music tour of LA for some years, LA NightHawks. One of my favorite stops was the Improv comedy club on Melrose, and I would tell my clients, if you don’t care for the comedian on stage, just wait, and you might love the next one up. The lineup of readers here is sort of like that, except no real clunkers. There’s a good chance you will strike gold somewhere that night, and find your new favorite local poet. Always a good bet. You’ve missed a lot of them maybe, but start now. Music by KOOPS. Readings by Jack Grisham, A. Razor, Joe Donnelly, Patrick O’Neil, Dayna Lopez, Annette Zilinskas, Chris Morris, Michael Marcus, S.A. Griffin, Nicca Ray, Richard Modiano, Allan MacDonell, William S Hayes. Sunday 7 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $20.
MILES 100: A CELEBRATION IN AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ, Jazz Bakery, 6/13;
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. (Yes, you bet, this is art.) Sun 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
TV RECOMMENDATIONS:
“THE DAILY SHOW” – I think they now have the best cast ever. (Apologies to Roy Wood Jr.) In fact… yelling, wildly gesticulating Jon Stewart is my least favorite host. Mon – Thurs 11 p.m., COMEDY CENTRAL.
“AMERICAN ON PURPOSE” – Craig Ferguson is back! I loved his old “Late Late Show” where he took playful, censor-friendly lechery to an art form, and loved his puppet friends. I didn’t so much love the horse or the skeleton. I even went once to a taping, with guest John Waters, a legend for my daughter Nicole, I’m such an awesome Dad. Ferguson was reliably quirky but, in no predictable direction. Still with his Scottish accent but a proud American citizen, he traverses the USA to speak with other Americans by chice, and it is enlightening for those of us fortunate enough to have been born here. There are only five episodes, don’t miss any. Sat 9 p.m., CNN, the next day on the CNN app.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): MOZART “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA, 6/11, 14, 17, 20, 21; MILES 100: A CELEBRATION IN AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ, Jazz Bakery, 6/13; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 6/14, 7/12, 8/9, 9/13, 10/11, 11/8; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 6/14, 21, 28; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 6/15, 22, 29; “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/13-7/12; CRAIG FERGUSON, “AMERICAN ON PURPOSE,” CNN, 6/13, 20, 27, 7/4; “THIS LAND,” CNN, 6/14-7/12;
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.
