By CHARLES ANDREWS
IMPORTANT CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES FORUM – TONIGHT!
At the Church in Ocean Park, 7 p.m., doors at 6:30. Santa Monica Democratic Club president Jon Katz is probably disappointed that he can’t again, like last week, ruin the fun for people attending the meeting who were recording the Team USA World Cup game, by announcing the result. His very first order of business. Is that petty of me to bring that up again? No, that is a fail-proof tiny point of leadership that indicates someone should certainly not be trusted with other, important things. When he announced the score, I called out, “I was recording it!” he responded, “Too bad.”
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
See that photo above that says so much? CA meets TX, and the rich history of country and folk music jumps up like a shooting star. But you did it again, didn’t you? Saw a show you knew you would love at McCabe’s and waited too long. There were still tickets a week ago. But now you will sit home, with a tear in your beer. This pairing is so good they sold out two nights at 75 bucks a ticket. Well… next time, huh? Fri, Sat 8 p.m., McCabe’s, Santa Monica, sold out.
“PETER ASHER, EVERYWHERE MAN” – Track this down at a Laemmle theater near you before it goes to pieces, but like the man himself, it seems to have unexpected staying power. Everyone I’ve talked to who has seen this, some several times, loves it, even though Asher is a bit of an obscurity. He started off as half of the Brit Invasion pop duo of Peter and Gordon, but always wanted to produce records, and quickly rose to the top of the London scene as A&R man for the new Apple Records. When he shipped off for the States, same thing, quickly to the top in LA, managing James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt to fame, and producing for Diana Ross, Robin Williams, Elton John, and many other stars. It’s packed with photos and videos I have never seen before, and that’s saying something. He’s a quirky guy, still at 82, but so well-loved. A huge force in music.
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – The run has been extended a little, so I must not be the only one who likes it. I swear, you finally get these thespians and their teachers into their new facility after a couple of 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 phone 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 it a second time, so hurry. Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., next Fri, Mon 8 p.m., next Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
“PAINTED PONIES” – Because I am now writing NOTEWORTHY every two weeks, this is my last chance to tell you, yes, tell you, NOT to let this get by. A one-woman show written by Ian McRae, directed so superbly and deftly by Elina de Santos, and starring Rachel Sorsa, it’s about the courage and love of a mother who is haunted by past mistakes, making peace with regret. Yeah, that’s what the PR says, but it is so much more. Sorsa takes a seemingly rough character and reveals a soul and intellect that surprises you. Her pain over the loss of a child could easily turn into self-blame, but she holds it and examines it through decades, and shows us so much more. Odd circumstances for sure, but she makes it a life that could have fallen to any of us. She could easily have arrived and stayed at pathetic, but heroically keeps hope alive all her life, that he may someday be found, and I was so moved by her final peronoucement: “I never gave up hope – I just ran out of time.” Brilliant script, and Sorsa delivers an 80-minute monologue without a miss. Isn’t this what theatre is really about? Sat 5 p.m., Sun 4 p.m., next Sat 5 p.m, next Sun 4 p.m. Ruskin Group Arts Center, SM Airport, $30-35.
LIBRARY GIRL – presents “I Am Waiting For Your Essence – A Tribute to Lucinda Williams.” This should be really good. Any list-of-performers shows (like stand up comedy) are a little risky, but – this one has a great prompt in Ms. Williams, there are a manageable number of readers (noted local music journalist Steve Hochman, co-curator of this show with LG founder Susan Hayden, John Perrin Flynn, José Enrique Medina, Patty Seyburn, Tanya White, and Chris Morris), and there is an excellent lineup of musicians. Including a favorite of mine, Rick Shea, and The Prickly Pair (online, I presume, from their new home in Nashville), Lisa Finnie w/John McDuffie + Dylan Thomas, Natalie Ford Brown w/Doug Tibbles, and Claire Holley.
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, 8:30. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
“TREASURE ISLAND,” – Not going to shiver a single timber, but I will exclaim Oh boy because this one sounds like fun. Adapted from the novel 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, next 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? But wait – Ellen and daughter Willow Geer co-direct, and they take the old European balcony into New York in the Gilded Age, re-examining hate and love, greed and generosity, and what separates us and brings us together. Sun, next 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 in 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, next Sun, 3:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
RECOMMENDED:
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’s PAINTED POINIES” – 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:
Ken Burns’ incredible “The American Revolution” is playing on some PBS station. I can’t recommend it enough.
“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): “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/26-7/12; “THE AIRPORT COMEDY SHOW,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/26; CRAIG FERGUSON, “AMERICAN ON PURPOSE,” CNN, 6/27, 7/4; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 6/28; ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, Coach House, 6/28; “THIS LAND,” CNN, 6/28-7/12; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 6/29; 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
