By CHARLES ANDREWS
COVER IT UP! PRETEND! LIE!
Yes, exactly what a spoiled five-year-old would do when caught at something he knows is wrong. Trump posted last August that he thought his name should be on the nation’s (formerly) most prestigious arts center. Of course, because of his love, knowledge, and support of the arts. I mean, Kid Rock would be waiting tables without The Donald. Then he fired the board of the Kennedy Center, put loyalists in, and by December they had defaced it all – the name wall, stationery, website. The performance calendar emptied – no one of any standing would perform there. And even a Lee Greenwood/Kid Rock/Ted Nugent bill (emcee: RFK Jr.) just don’t sell no tickets, at a class venue. The Kennedy family was, of course, outraged, somebody sued, and now, all this time later, at a judicial order ignored until the last minute, his name has been pried off the sullied edifice. The work took place behind huge canvas sheets, so no one could see and record the humiliation. The canvas covering remains in place. What a baby.
Although the rename/unname was not cheap, it should be added to the incredibly long debit list of what he owes us. This is a relatively small thing compared to starting a war in the Middle East, sending armed thugs into the streets to disappear people, or crashing the economy. But that’s just it. There is nothing too petty, and nothing too large and dangerous, to promote and protect his imagined reputation. But in trying clumsily to hide his outrageous overreach at our Kennedy Center, he has guaranteed it will be enshrined in the history books. “Am I right, America?”
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Tonight! – MOZART, “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA – Allllllright, then! This is a memorable way to end the season (and order your season tickets for next year, start with “Carmen”), a mind-bending laugh-a-minute production you have to see (final three performances). But be careful: the unique, marvelous, ever-changing projected stage design, a set evoking silent movies and cartoonish steampunk figures, can take you away from Mozart’s brilliant score. The two female leads (Sydney Mancasola as Pamina, and Queen of the Night Aigul Khismatullina) were ridiculously powerful and musical, and co-lead Miles Mykkanen as Tamino was not far behind. Absolutely delightful, and gives you a new perspective on this Mozart masterpiece. Three performances this week; you’ll be sorry if you let it slip by. Wed, Sat 7:30 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $146-440.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – This rockin’ quintet, known for Django Reinhardt-style ‘30s-’40s jazz (for starters, but they go way beyond), knocks you out with their across-the-board virtuosity. I have never heard anyone walk away from a HCOLA show 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.
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – I swear, you finally get these thespians and their 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 four 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, known for “The Whale”. You may want to see this a second time. Sat, Mon 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
“TREASURE ISLAND” – Not going to shiver a single timber, but I will exclaim Oh boy because this one sounds like fun. Adapted and directed by founder Will Geer’s daughter Ellen, she has shown a decades-long consistent gift for mixing message with theatrical entertainment, and I expect this to do no less. Please don’t ever retire, Ellen! Sat 7:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
“ROMEO AND JULIET,” Theatricum Botanicum – 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? Sun 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:
MAKE MUSIC DAY SANTA MONICA! – I have high hopes for this, but we’ll see. Make Music Day is an international celebration of music that began in France in 1982 and is now celebrated in more than 800 cities in 100 countries, but it took 30 years for Santa Monica to notice. When we did, our city government got it all wrong. MMD is intended to be very DIY, for a kid just learning to play the flute to a garage rock band in their 40th year to a violinist from the LA Phil, all finding a stage or a park or a street corner to share their love of music. No judgement on skill level. Our Cultural Affairs department recognized it by at first paying three bands a few hundred dollars to perform in one place – no, no, no, not the idea at all, at all. But not wanting to make any real effort, the city decided the easiest thing would be to do a lot some money to the neighborhood groups, and let them put it on. Not a terrible idea, but not exactly the original idea.
So this year Santa Monica takes on its own identity, no longer a part of make Music Los Angeles — which has been very well organized. There will be five areas of Music Making in SM: go to “Make Music Santa Monica” for all the details. Sounds like fun, and a great way to spend a sunny summer solstice and Father’s Day. Various parks and other venues around Santa Monica, various times, free.
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 choice, 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, 6/17, 20, 21; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 6/21, 28; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 6/22, 29; “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/19-7/12; CRAIG FERGUSON, “AMERICAN ON PURPOSE,” CNN, 6/20, 27, 7/4; “THE AIRPORT COMEDY SHOW,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/26; “THIS LAND,” CNN, 6/21-7/12; DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE, McCabe’s, 7/10, 11; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 7/12, 8/9, 9/13, 10/11, 11/8.
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
