Festival

In an obvious turn of events, considering the children are the future, youth orchestras in Los Angeles have a chance to give the LA Philharmonic a run for their money own their own home court.  This Saturday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, three youth orchestras have been invited to participate in the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra Festival Day.  The Renaissance Arts Academy Orchestra, Korean American Youth Symphony, and the Santa Monica High School Orchestra will all take the stage to perform Mozart, Bizet, Tchaikosvky, Dvorak, and Bernstein in concerts set to last all day.

The Youth Orchestra Partners Program has six total participants that are presented with free concert tickets, master classes with LA Phil musicians, and this kind of opportunity to perform on stage at Disney Hall during their two year run in the program.  It is the Philharmonic’s way of making sure, six schools at a time, that classical music programs and youth orchestras are nurtured as they should be and are made to feel like valued parts of our local arts community.

Saturdays performances are set to provide us all with a marvelous perspective on what high school students are capable of when they have the right instruments in their hands.  From 1 – 1:45pm, the Renaissance Academy will delight with compositions by Holst, Bizet, Mozart, Adamis, and Orff.  Run off, have a snack at the café on the Music Center campus across the street.  Come back from 2:30pm – 3:15pm for the Korean American Youth Symphony’s take on works by Suppe, Saint-Saens, and Dvorak – a very enticing combination, if you think about it.

Run off again for a coffee, and jet back to your seats to finish off your day of discovering classical music with the Santa Monica High School Orchestra’s performance of works by Bernstein, Tchaikovsky, and Saint-Saens from 4 – 4:45pm.

You’ll discover that children are, indeed, the future and so is classical music.

The Youth Orchestra Festival Day performances will be held on Saturday, March 13 from 1pm – 4:45pm at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Click here or call (213) 972-3454 for more information.

The Academy Awards are upon us.  Like St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Oscar weekend takes over the city of Los Angeles in a joyous display of self-congratulations.  Don’t get me wrong, being from Los Angeles makes it actually required (I believe it’s legally binding) that I watch and enjoy all that the Oscars have to offer each year.  Going into the final stretch before the big show, I feel an annual commitment to seeing all, or most, of the nominated films so that when yelling at the TV, I will be doing so with educated qualms.  The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood seems to have similar obligations, which must be why they are setting all of us up this week with a number of programs to get us good and ready for Sunday evening’s broadcast.

Before taking a look at this week’s programs, let’s just be clear – there are ten films up for Best Picture this year.  See whichever ones you feel drawn to; ten is a lot.  If, for example, you feel like you’ve seen District 9 once you finish the trailer, save your $10 or go see The Hurt Locker again.  Don’t be hard on yourself if you haven’t seen them all, I’d bet that there really are only 5 contenders anyway.

Over at the Egyptian Theatre, though, your pre-Oscar education can get underway with Fridat evenings show of Oscar-Nominated Short Films – Animated and Live Action.  You’ll get a chance to see shorts like “The Lady and the Reaper,” “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” “French Roast,” “Instead of Abracadabra,” and my personal favorite “The New Tenants.”

Head back into Hollywood on Saturday morning at 10am (no whining, this is Oscar weekend – we’ve got to get you in shape!) for their Invisible Art, Visible Artists panel with the Oscar-Nominated editors of Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, and Precious.  Stop off for lunch somewhere nearby, but don’t stray too far.  The panel with Oscar-Nominated Art Directors begins at 2:30pm and will give you the chance to discuss your ideas for set design with those creative minds behind The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Avatar, Nine, Sherlock Holmes, and The Young Victoria.

You’re all set and squared away.  You should feel very capable of making some educated bets – not that we encourage gambling… much.  Here’s to the Oscars – LA’s version of a national holiday.  (Good luck making a reservation just about anywhere in town this week, too.)

Click here to check out the Egyptian Theatre’s full calendar of events.

It was only a little earlier today that the Los Angeles City Council voted down the proposition to eliminate the Transient Occupancy Tax (the TOT), the sole source of governmental funding behind of the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA).  This action, had it been carried through, would have effectively shut down 18 cultural centers—including the Barnsdall Arts Center in Hollywood and the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, host to the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program for middle school youth—as well as five professional theatre facilities, and an array of classes, programs, and cultural events.

Such a worthwhile institution as the DCA might seem like an easy stronghold in such a creatively centered city as Los Angeles, but it was largely due to incredible advocacy organizations like Arts for LA that the proposition was shot down.  They, along with other activist groups and privately-funded museums such as the Hammer, urged their supporters to write letters to their councilmen, and voice their opinions at the City Council public hearing this Wednesday.  Some handed out stickers with the phrase “Arts Fuel LA,” others toted hand-made signs, and one woman addressed the council in a full-on angel costume.

Lo and behold, these efforts proved successful, and as a website strictly devoted toward promoting the arts, artists, and cultural community of Los Angeles, FineArtsLA would like to sincerely thank both the City Council members, and the hard-working advocacy organizations for their aid and congratulate them on their accomplishment today.

Of course the fight for the arts is never through—the council issue still undecided is whether the current cultural grants will be honored—but in celebration of this week’s victory, may I suggest checking out the DCA-funded Municipal Arts Gallery in the Barnsdall Arts Park.  From January 24th through April 18th, they are hosting an enormous series of participatory exhibitions entitled “Actions, Conversations, and Intersections,” all aimed at enhancing the artistic community of Los Angeles.  In residency this week is Smart Gals Productions, whose patented “Reading Preserve and Speakeasy Collection” features public readings from some of LA’s best authors, including John Albert, Noel Alumit, and Aimee Bender (my personal favorite).

The Smart Gals will toast off their weeklong program on Sunday, February 7th at 2:00pm with the collaborative “Winter Picnic Performance,” a fun mix of music, theatre, fresh bread courtesy of the Bicycle Bread Company, and hot coffee from Cafécito Organico.  So come along, fuel the arts that fuel LA, and if you get the chance, thank somebody.

Curated by Edith Abeyta and Michael Lewis Miller, “Actions, Conversations, and Intersections” runs until April 18th, 2010 at the Los Angeles Municipal Arts Gallery in the Barnsdall Art Park.  For more information, visit www.actionsconversationsintersections.com

Pablo Uribe, Atardecer, 2008 (Dusk) - video still

This year, the Los Angeles Art Show made its home at Los Angeles Convention Center.  This venue change provided more space for gallery booths that ranged from contemporary works such as the Wall Project’s Shepard Fairey and Thierry Noir painted walls to landscapes galore — and even more space for project-based installations. The Vox Humana on-site art performance presented street artists Mear One, Kofie, Retna, and El Mac who showed off their talents over the length of the fair on large-scale canvases.  And speaking of more room, I wondered how Sidestreet Projects got one of their woodworking workshop buses into the fair.  These school buses are outfitted with project stations for elementary school children so they can make a nuts and bolts washer sandwich and one FUNdred dollar bills, which I am sure we all could use more of these days.

One of my favorite pieces of the art fair was Pablo Uribe’s video, Atardecer (2008), which screened in a makeshift dark room in the Guest Country program booth’s rear.  While looking at the other works from the 34° 53’ 0” S – 56° 10’ 0” W show, I heard animals sounds curiously mix with the ambient art fair noise.  Upon stepping into the screening area, there was a video of an older man standing before a black background looking as if he were about to perform a gorgeous aria.  Instead of sweet notes pouring out of his mouth, the sound of a dog’s bark came out.  And then the cooing of a bird!  The actor was imitating the sounds of native rain forest animals.

Willy Rojas, Egg

Willy Rojas’ photographs at Barcelona’s Villa del Arte booth depicted miniature figurines interacting with their food-based environment.  Tiny people ski down slopes of salt or a wedge of hard cheese.  A man broke the shell of an egg with his sledgehammer while a couple ice skates on an orange hued soup.

Speaking of food, the Timothy Yarger Gallery presented Jean Wells’ The Giant Kiss quite literally.  The huge chocolate-scented foil wrapped sculpture demanded a tongue-in-cheek presence while paying homage to Claes Oldenburg’s shop.

The Rebecca Hossack Gallery held quite a few treats, including a gorgeous papel picado-esque paper cutting in the shape of a peacock (Ian Penney), a piece of toast with an image of Shakespeare burnt onto it à la the Virgen de Guadalupe (Maria Morrow), and also Phil Shaw’s photographs of brightly colored bookshelves, which was a voyeur’s delight to snoop the book titles.

And on my way out, I spotted three Jeff Koon’s puppy vases filled with fresh flowers guarding Jean Dubuffet’s Tapis at the Jane Kahan Gallery.  In my mind, they were the guardians of the LA Art Show — a much friendlier and kitsch version of Cerberus.

Los Angeles deserves some more recognition and maybe some better press, while we’re at it.  The reputation that many of our more blonde and ditsy denizens have created for us can often precede the fact that our art scene is one to be reckoned with.  If not, how would we have something to write about everyday?

In Spring 2009 when the LA Philharmonic, alongside their new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, was invited to be a resident orchestra of the Barbican Centre in London, it was clear that the world of classical music was officially interested in what was happening out West.  It was just the right kind of recognition, of international press, that LA’s prized artists had been working toward.

In February, we can all look forward to moving up another notch on the world stage.  At the 29th annual International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid, called ARCOmadrid, Los Angeles will be honored in a special exhibition entitled Panorama: Los Angeles.  For the first time in the history of the festival, the special exhibition will focus on a singular city instead of a country; it will be the first time Los Angeles has been celebrated as a city whose contemporary art scene is vibrant, prolific, and significant.  Curated by Kris Kuramitsu, some of the galleries and artists represented in the exhibition are Cherry and Martin Gallery, L.A. Louver, Regen Projects, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, and Steve Turner Gallery.

As if this weren’t enough, the Getty Research Institute will also present their exhibition Julius Shulman’s Los Angeles. Featuring over 100 rarely seen photos from Julius Shulman’s photography archive, the exhibit will showcase the passion that Shulman had for this sprawling, culturally rich City of Angels.

We all love Los Angeles in different ways – some love to hate it, some just love it unabashedly.  But no one can deny how enticing, unique, and powerful our art scene has become, even just in recent years.  Locals can’t deny it and now even the Spanish can’t deny it.

On Sunday, during the Golden Globes broadcast when Martin Scorsese was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and lauded the efforts of film conservationists, it was hard not to scroll through the prolific director’s filmography and wish you could see them on the silver screen.   Of his many films that have made their way to the canon of iconic American cinema – Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas – there’s only one that saw De Niro turn into an emotionally explosive boxer named Jake La Motta.  That same film has been fully restored recently by American Cinematheque and will be screened in all its black and white, prizefighting glory at the Egyptian Theatre on Friday night, January 22, at 7:30pm.  That film is the one, the only: Raging Bull – you know, the one that won De Niro an Oscar as well as Thelma Schoonmaker, the film’s editor.

As you continue into the weekend, you’ll find it’s full of digitally restored masterpieces – The Godfather will be screened on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30pm followed by the original Superman (1978) on Sunday, January 24 at 5:00pm and its sequel, Superman II, made in 1980 just following it.

As if that weren’t enough restoration and conservation for you, next Friday (January 29) at 7:30pm, Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly will be screened to remind you of just how badass Clint Eastwood can be.

The Digitally Restored series will be screened starting from Friday, January 22 at 7:30pm with Raging Bull.  For a full calendar, please click here.

How much do you know about Scandinavia beyond “smorgasbord”, the midnight sun, fjords, and your fantasy Swedish swim team? All you need to know about our Nordic contemporaries, cinematically speaking, can be seen at the Scandinavian Film Festival.  Featuring the cream of the crop in Scandinavian film, including all of the region’s submissions for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, the Festival began last Saturday and finishes Sunday, January 17.  All the screenings are held at the Writer’s Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills and, if you take a look around, they’re filled with LA’s surprisingly large Scandinavian population.

Sitting behind us on Sunday, January 10 for the screening of Denmark’s Oscar submission, Terribly Happy, was a representative from the Royal Danish Embassy, for example.  Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz, the darkly comic Terribly Happy has a distinctly Coen brothers’ tone, albeit set in small town Denmark.

Saturday afternoon, we watched the Swedish submission for Hollywood’s favorite golden statue, called Involuntary.  From director Ruben Ostlund, the film follows five parallel stories of relatable, yet generally hysterical and also melancholy, human behavior. One vignette that stands out follows two young girls with an overdeveloped appetite for sex and alcohol, especially considering they can’t be many years out of puberty.

Before each film, you’re presented with a short from the same country.  The short film screened prior to Terribly Happy, was the equally dark and comic The New Tenants about the apartment building from hell.  Prior to Involuntary, we were met with The Man With All The Marbles – a captivating, witty, and beautifully made film about two brothers who have never quite understood how to get what they want from each other.

This Saturday, you can see The Accident, from Norwegian director Marcelino Martin Valiente at 12:45pm followed by Starring Maja at 2:30pm, which hails from director Teresa Fabik of Sweden.  Sunday, January 17 at 12:30pm, you’ll have a chance to see the much-anticipated submission from Iceland, Reykjavik Rotterdam, directed by Oskar Jonasson.

For more information on the Scandinavian International Film Festival, including a full schedule, please click here.

Terribly Happy is set for a small theatrical release, including screenings at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills.  For more information, please click here.

Pretty much all of last year you watched art fairs come and go in other cities.  The Armory, Art Basel, Frieze, and Art Basel Miami Beach left you reading minute-by-minute updates online and feeling a strong sense of wanderlust.  They all were so close, yet so far away…

Now you needn’t look any further than your own backyard because there’s a batch of Angeleno art fairs to serve all of your artistic inclinations.  There’s Photo LA, Los Angeles Art Show, and Art Los Angeles Contemporary.

First up, Photo LA starts this Friday at the Santa Monica Civic.  It features galleries based in Los Angeles (Fahey Klein Gallery, Frank Pictures, Rose Gallery) as well as galleries coming as far as the Czech Republic (Czech Center of Photography) to exhibit works of emerging, mid-career, and established photographers.

The Los Angeles Art Show is next week (January 20 – 24) and will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown. The Los Angeles Art Show will feature more than 130 international exhibitors, an engaging lecture series and special events program, a sculpture garden, and special exhibit spaces, and fun-filled evening mixers.

And finally, Art Los Angeles Contemporary will be taking place at the Pacific Design Center the last week of January (January 28 – 31).  This fair will feature top international blue chip and emerging galleries with a focus on Angeleno spaces.  There will be a programming series that includes artist talks, panel discussions, and artist film screenings that will make you think you have died and gone to art heaven.

So, to put it another way, you’re booked until February.

What on your itinerary for this weekend?  Snuggies?  Gourmet food trucks?  Some good ol’ fashioned hip-shaking?  Now get your minds out of the gutter.  Well, not too far!

How about Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday celebration at the Egyptian Theatre?  It’s complete with music, karaoke, games, prizes, food, and a special guest appearance by actress Francine York, who had worked with Elvis on several films.  Whether you are a fanatic or just a really good Elvis impersonator, we are thinking that the only way to really get a leg up on your New Year’s resolution is by eating some of those banana-peanut butter pancake bites from the Buttermilk Truck.  Or gnaw on a little BBQ from Barbie’s Q before you polish off a little birthday cake.

Of course, you may start to feel like Elvis in the latter portion of his career.  But if you can push through it, you can revisit his prolific youth by watching an Elvis double feature: Elvis ‘56 and Jailhouse Rock.

Afterward, you’ll probably feel the need to perfect your dance moves.  Remember, its all in the hips.

The Elvis Prestley double feature is this Sunday, January 10 at 5:30 pm at the Egyptian Theatre.  For more information, please click here.

A good lot of us cannot wait to say good-bye to 2009 and the ’00s as a whole.  Sayonara, the aughts.  And hellooo, teens!

But there are a couple of us having a hard time letting go of the holiday spirit.  And if you happen to be one of them, keep your iTunes radio on the Christmas carol channel and bake those cookies just a couple more days.

If ice-skating is your thing, swing by Pershing Square for some outdoors ice with your sweetest.  Hot cocoa is not included, but the fee and skate rentals are  only $8. [Info]  Need a few drinks to ease the pain when the ice breaks your fall one too many times?  The W Los Angeles in Westwood offers a skating rink of its own for those who need a little liquid courage…erm, holiday cheer to accompany them. [Info]

Do you need lots of bright lights to stay warm and cheery?  The DWP’s Holiday Light Festival is going strong…until tomorrow night.  You don’t even need to leave the safety of your own car while driving down a mile-long stretch of ligh decorations gracing Griffith Park. [Info]  If you tend to trot the unbeaten path, head down to the LBC to see Phantom Galleries’ version of a holiday light show.  Aptly titled Let There Be Light!, twenty-eight exhibitions in 25 storefronts will be shining with various light-based works ranging from the subtle, abstract shapes to the bold and fluorescent. [Info]

You don’t have to say good-bye just yet to the holiday season, but since CVS has its Christmas display right next to Valentine treats, the countdown is on.

Image: Fiat Lux IV – Susan Chorpenning; photo by Dan Scott