Food and Drink

At LACMA on Saturday night, a girl in a white Victorian dress sat on a bench with her hands folded, looking pissed off. A photographer from the clothing company Clockwork Couture stood a few feet away.
“Want to sit in her lap?” the photographer asked me.
“I think I’m okay,” I said. The girl looked so familiar, I had to ask. “Have you ever watched True Blood?” I asked.
She stared at me. “I know what you’re going to say,” she snapped. “Lorena, right? I hear it all the time.” She looked coldly into the camera as it flashed.
I guess I don’t blame her for being pissed off. I would be too, if I had to pose with bystanders at the fourteenth annual LACMA Muse ‘Til Midnight event, where the clothing was Victorian, the food supplied was chips and salsa, and there was an open bar. The tickets were $40 for non-members, $25 for Muse members, and it was hard to see what all the fuss was about.
The event sounded great, in theory: a neo-Victorian dress-up night at the museum, coinciding with the Thomas Eakins and Catherine Opie show, Manly Pursuits. Eakins painted wrestlers and rowers in intimate situations in the late 1800-early 1900’s, while Opie currently photographs teenage football players and surfers. Connecting the two artists requires a stretch of imagination, but the show is a valuable statement about the forced efforts and vulnerability of masculinity.
However, the Muse ‘Til Midnight event didn’t have much to do with the show, or with anything at the museum. The event was described by a Yelp user like this: “A full line-up of entertainment with open bar in an unique environment for $25-$40? On a Saturday night? In Los Angeles? Even including parking? Do I need to keep asking rhetorical questions?” Unfortunately, the event became a Los Angeles situation in which too many good ideas were not executed properly, with too many people in attendance to leave such margin for error.
After waiting in a long line, guests were ushered into the museum’s main plaza where Dusty and the River Band played and video projections flashed on the walls. Two performers on stilts made their way through the crowd, surrounded by a thick circle of photographers, documenting the “insanity” for various nightlife blogs. Two stilt-walkers, a couple of dancers and some people in costumes didn’t seem like enough to justify paying $40, but let’s not forget about that open bar, which included “100% Agave Tequila, Blackheart Spiced Rum, Hpnotiq Liqueur, Pernod Absinthe, and FIJI Water.” It seems that people will spend any amount of money to get sloshed while wearing a corset.
Maybe next time, LACMA should make dressing up for the event mandatory, as the people who were wearing full neo-Victorian garb looked to be having the best time. Many people wore costumes from Clockwork Couture, a “steampunk” line that mixes Victorian clothing with modern touches, while others had improvised their own costumes. A thin blonde woman and her chunkier date wore matching top hats and lace-up boots, trailing long feathers behind them. Another woman wore a corset and a matching flowered neck brace, and many men (and women) sported fantastic moustaches.
At ten o’clock, everyone was ushered into a much longer line leading to the roof of the Penthouse suite, only accessible by an elevator. (Too bad for the claustrophobes.) The roof offered a nice city view of the Variety building, along with some mysterious devices, including a giant telescope and various contraptions used to “measure electrical phenomena.” A stage was set up for a burlesque show, and a dancer in chalky makeup tiptoed around the crowd en pointe as flashbulbs popped all around her.
Nearby, a man wearing suspenders rested his foot on a stack of pillows. “I sprained my foot, but this is awesome,” he declared, looking at the dancer. “Look at this. Look at her. Can you believe it?” I could believe it, though next time I would prefer to look at photos of the event rather than attend. Despite the congestion, chips and salsa, long lines and limited number of performers, it seemed like many people had a wonderful time. Never underestimate the power of a little absinthe.

- By Cassandra McGrath

For mose information about LACMA, and any upcoming Muse events, please visit www.lacma.org/membership/Muse.aspx, or call 323-857-6000.

I met artist, curator, and all-around art enthusiast Esteban Schimpf when he came out to the FineArtsLA: Panel of the Muses event we hosted back in June. He was there to support his friend, panelist, and co-board member of the Chinatown gallery, Actual Size LA, Lee Rachel Foley. Schimpf made himself known as the first—and most voluable—volunteer of the after-panel Q&A session. His passion for supporting art and artists was intense, genuine, and immediately recognizable (he railed against the idea that the physical limitations of Los Angeles—traffic, isolation, etc.—should in any way prevent an artist from doing their job). Following the discussion, he was quick to introduce himself, revealing a chummier, more casual side of his personality, yet still brimming with that same passion.

On Thursday, August 19^th, at 7:00 PM, Esteban opens his (to my knowledge) first personal exhibition in Los Angeles at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, and not surprisingly, his own work is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Schimpf, with the help of Stefan Simchowitz, has chosen to spotlight the work of fifteen other young, up-and-coming artists in an ambitious group show he has titled “Instant LA Summer.” Upon names only, I was admittedly unfamiliar with the artists on view, but after some instant LA research, the show looks to be extremely diverse in mediums and theme, but cohesive in pure enthusiasm. Essentially, it’s Esteban without Esteban. Here’s a quick, flip-through preview of what’s in store, but don’t hold me to it:

Los Super Elegantes: this musical duo, one male and one female, present three of their own videos, which are as much a part of their overall presentation as are their costumes, their on-stage theatrics, their public demeanor, sexual chemistry, and of course, their music—a Latino-influenced type of pop that owes a lot to show-tunes. Their videos, too, remind me of low-rent movie musical numbers (in one, a romantic, garbage-man Romeo belts out his love to a passing, balcony-perched Juliet).

Eric Yhanker: his piece, “Bizarro Picasso,” is a charcoal and graphite depiction of an old, wide-eyed bald man who looks kind of like the titular painter, but, in its tactility, more like something Jan Svankmajer would mold from clay. Photographic in its Chuck Close detail and sense of perception, the close-up portrait briskly departs from realism with its over-sized, features, namely the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears—the portals to our senses.

Josh Mannis: works in a variety of mediums, but his series of HD videos are the most striking. Like Yhanker, they concentrate on the frozen exaggeration of facial features, but in the style of a Japanese advertisement. Bright pastel colors, fleshy and freaky masks, limited body movement, and intense repetition characterize such works as “If You Don’t Know Anything, You Don’t Know This.”

Charles Irvin: a multi-instrumentalist as they say in the music world. He draws, paints, performs, makes videos, and simply exists. His works tends to be cartoonish, extremely colorful, and detailed, but in a soft way. It’s dream-like, psychedelic, and in-your-face. No subtleties here, save the man behind the man.

Kenneth Tam: another video-maker, but of the Dadaist ilk. His mundane, often single shot slices of life tend to take place in one setting, have a documentary feel to them, and are so direct and normal that they border the line on the absurd.

Maya Lujan: to look at pictures of her large-form, graphic patterns—architectural in nature—one would be quite surprised to hear that her installation in a 2008 UCLA exhibition was taken down due to the fact it included a simplified mandala that bore striking similarity to a swastika. In actuality, the piece was more akin to a kind of apocalyptic spacecraft, and it’s this exact questioning of shapes and patterns that shows up in most of her work.

Sarah Sieradzki: speaking of the architectural, her work presents mashups of varying shapes, materials, and textures—wooden frames, cement blocks, photographs—that look like models for massive monuments of future post-modernism (whatever that is). She seems to take joy in chaotic geometry, as well as the re-contextualizion of basic structures.

Pascual Sisto: also a multi-platform artist, he appears to specialize in playing with and subverting the viewer’s expectation. Much of his work starts off as a seemingly one-note image/idea—cursive neon lettering, a single-shot video of a motionless fruit tree—but will then either climax unexpectedly in a sudden spasm of movement (as with the fruit tree video) or double-back on its initial meaning (as with the phrase in neon: “Let us be Cruel”).

Daniel Desure: in his prints and photographs, there’s a cold, stillness that tends to break down time into single moments, whether its a car crash refracted into centrifugal prisms, or a can of paint in the midst of spilling. Desure seems to distill catastrophic moments into the way we often remember catastrophic moments: as single images.

Emily Mast: time is of the essence to this choreographic artist as well. She sets up complex, theatrical installations utilizing actors, props, lights, and costumes, which collide into a kind of Beckett-ian sense of nihilism. But within these dramatic interpretations is a clear sense of narrative, which is inherently married to time, and thereby, meaning.

Emily Steinfeld: a sort of found object artist who seems to enjoy the accidental/purposeful layering of solid things—how one thing can mold into another as if a chemical compound. Her series of structures entitled “Covert Cells” utilizes sheeting to cover objects like wine bottles and telephones so that they may be confused for a single entity.

Simon Haas: mainly primitive, muted browns and melancholy. As the title of his piece “A Brief Moment After a Bath” suggests, he finds subtle beauty in the skipped-over moments of life. The lead surface and the wide, gestural brush strokes of this oil painting have a wavy, watery feel to them. Like waking up from a dream and dealing with its immediate aftermath.

Mark Hagen: intricate, graphic designs made for specific technological uses. He designed a 360 wrap, for instance, to be hypothetically used on the antiquated bowling shoe so as to maximize arch support for the bowler. As a child, he helped his father part out and restore Post-War Studebakers, and he seems to have been elaborating on this work ever since.

Sean Kennedy: also works in design, but in a much more tactile sense. He builds layers of both abstract designs and found objects to create geometric patterns that are simple at first glance, yet wildly complex upon inspection.

Orlando Tirado: exotic, striking photographs and/or collages of imagery. The title of his piece, “ShamanColash or Land, Sea, and Air (Self Portrait)” speaks to the bizarre juxtapositions framed in the would-be tired genre of self-portraitry. To borrow a reaction once used to describe the first artist on this list (Los Super Elegantes), Tirado “[makes] the audience nervous. Nobody does that anymore.”

-By Joshua Morrison

Stefan Simchowitz presents “Instant LA Summer,” an exhibition by Esteban Schimpf, runs until September 10, 2010 at the Carmichael Gallery. The opening is  on Thursday, August 19^th, at 7:00 PM. For more information, please visit www.carmichaelgallery.com, or call 323.939.0600.

Randy and Jason Sklar, better known as the Sklar Brothers, even better known as the hosts of the only ESPN Classic show I’ve ever watched on a regular basis—Cheap Seats—and possibly best known as the Cain and Abel of Hollywood agents in HBO’s Entourage, got their comedic starts amidst the burgeoning “alternative” comedy scene of mid-90’s New York. Back then and over there, such now-defunct clubs as the famous Luna Lounge used to hold regular open-mic nights, where names like Marc Maron, Greg Fitzsimmons, Louis CK, Dave Attell, Sarah Silverman, and many, many more once tuned their respective crafts. The Sklars didn’t immediately fit in. In fact, they stood out, and in a bad way. They’re identical twins, which, in the eyes of the comedy club weary, was synonymous with hacky—not far off from ventriloquism, as both shticks tended to traditionally rely on the straight-man/wacky-man dynamic. In interviews, Randy and Jason have talked about their initial struggle against this assumption, not so much with their audiences as within their act. They had to work hard to eventually to find their patented rhythm of completing one another’s sentences, riffing on topics the other brings up, never disowning their uncanny likeness, yet never relying on it either. Basically, they had to find their true collective self, a feat which simply would not have been possible without the open-mic.

These days, the Sklars still perform almost everywhere in Los Angeles, but have also transitioned into the world of film and television, an industry with lots of microphones (as well as projectors, the mic’s visual equivalent), few of which are “open,” almost none of which are free.  Hence, “Open Projector Night,” hosted by Randy and Jason Sklar, this Tuesday, August 17, 8:00 PM at the Hammer Museum. Free popcorn, cash bar, and a first-come-first-serve policy for any under-ten-minute film or video out there, these semi-regular nights have developed a reputation for rowdiness, rudeness, and yes, even the occasional cinematic gem. Come screen-test your private masterpiece (submissions begin at 7 PM), or just support your local filmmakers by getting drunk and voting them off the docket completely.

The Sklar Brothers, more than most, know what its like to struggle for an identity, and they’ve kind of made an on-screen career out of it (not to mention, paved the way for stellar teams like the Walsh Brothers). So if you’re tired of being constantly confused for someone you’re not, of having to dress different to stick out, of explaining the subtle yet imperative dissimilarities between you and that other idiot, just leave it in the hands of Sklars. They may not love your work, they may make some clever jokes at your expense, but they’ll at least give you a mic.

For  more information about “Open Projector Night” and Hammer Public Programs (all of which are free), please visit www.hammer.ucla.edu, or call 310.443.7000.

http://www.spike.com/video/2828991Bactrian camels, Arctic wolves, Pakistani snow leopards, oceanic whitetip sharks, and one coat-tailed conductor; that’s a lot to pack in anywhere, even the Hollywood Bowl. But this Friday and Saturday at the legendary amphitheatre, the LA Philharmonic will perform live musical accompaniment to selected footage from the spectacular BBC television series Planet Earth. Conducted by none other than the shows’ composer himself, George Fenton, the orchestra promises to match the stunning high-defition footage, as projected onto the Bowl’s big screen.

Planet Earth, which first premiered on the BBC in 2006, and was re-broadcast in the U.S. in 2007, compiles extraordinary, cinematic scenes of nature from all over the world, in eleven different habitats. It’s probably the best reality show you’ll ever see, if only because it’s completely devoid of humans. Yet, the series is without a doubt a distinctly human feat, and would be half as exciting were it not for the power of a fully human, orchestral score.

And yes, Fine Arts LA has two tickets to give away to hear this score performed live by the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this Friday, July 23^rd at 8:30 PM, alongside footage from BBC’s Planet Earth. George Fenton conducts, you and your date cuddle up, while the entire audience is transported to the places far beyond even Hollywood’s imagination. Just write in your first name, last name, and e-mail address into the form below, and you can be eligible to receive these Planet Earth passes, as well as the next three ticket giveaways we do. Safe travels.

Fireworks have the ability to conjure up about as many disparate meanings and memories as the number of spokes in their shooting spiral light displays. In China, they’re thought to scare away evil spirits. In America, they’re billed as patriotic—provoking heckles of “ooh’s” and “aah’s” and “hell yeah’s” from admiring crowds. In zombie movies, they’re often used as weapons of distraction. In the Middle East, they’re not much different than the sights and sounds of air bombs. And in romantic relationships, they’re either explosive celebrations of symbolic ecstasy, or nostalgic reminders of dying light.

Whatever meaning you may attach to them, fireworks do possess a universal power. And on this July 4^th, FineArtsLA.com is giving you and a lucky date the chance to witness the magic close-up at the best Independence Day pyrotechnics show this city has to offer. Live at the Hollywood Bowl, with special guest Vince Gill (does is get more patriotic?), and the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West (apparently it does), the Los Angeles Philharmonic presents the famous July 4^th Fireworks Spectacular. Simply write in your first name, last name, and e-mail address into the form below, and you will automatically be put in the running to win two free tickets to this year’s show (and as always, your name will be added to the lottery of the next three FineArtsLA.com ticket giveaways).

Sure, you could catch the lights from a distance off the side of the 101. But why not immerse yourself in the Bowl this year, and join the true fireworks show, which of course has nothing to do with gunpowder, but rather the thousands of individual sparks that fly up from our own collective subconscious.

The more and more I examine the arts in the context of a historical structure, the more I realize what a bummer of a time this is for civic art. I can’t think of another era that feels as devoid of art on a public and communal scale. Historically, art was one of the most important means by which royalty, nobility, governing bodies, and organized religion established legitimacy and power. Who would the Medicis have been without their immeasurable contribution to the arts? It was nothing short of unthinkable for British war heroes, influential families, academics, and political figures to not commission the exquisitely carved tombs that have elevated Westminster Abbey to one of the world’s most coveted sculpture collections. Would the Place de l’Etoile be such a booming tourist destination if the Arc De Triomphe had not been erected in 1806? What would the Palazzo della Signoria be without its most famous inhabitant, Michelangelo’s David?

Somehow, sometime, for some reason, something has drastically changed the relationship between human civilization and the arts. I’m not quite sure why it happened, or when it happened, or how to pinpoint exactly when governing powers decided that the arts aren’t as important anymore, but it has, most certainly, happened. I’m not sure where things went wrong, and I don’t know why I truly feel that we are in our very own Dark Ages, but I do indeed sense that we’re in a serious funk. Nowadays, school art programs are being cut at gut-wrenching rates, public funding for the arts is negligible compared to what is spent producing Monday Night Football, and general community interest in any art, let alone public art, is something to laugh at rather than be proud of.

Not to my surprise, it turns out that my fellow art lovers at FineArtsLA have also been asking themselves these questions and felt it was high time to talk about them in Hollywood’s very own Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). In concert with the first-ever Hollywood Fringe Festival, this awesome and active website hosted “Panel of the Muses”-a lively panel discussion with some of LA’s most prominent and emerging arts activists: Daniel Ingroff and Paul Pescador, Directors of Workspace Gallery; Freddi Cerasoli, Owner of the former Cerasoli Gallery; Arely Villegas, creator of the arts blog Art A L.A. MODE; and Lee Rachel Foley, Director of Actual Size Los Angeles, all beautifully moderated by our very own Editor-in-Chief, Joshua Morrison.

It’s no coincidence that the first question Josh asked of the panel provided one of the most important answers as to why the arts isn’t more accessible to Angelenos: Why does it feel like Los Angeles is so segregated in terms of its arts community? Freddi reminded us that troubled transportation (and the lack of public transport) impedes our city’s ability to share and engage its citizens in the constant up-surge of private galleries and arts spaces. According to Freddi, cities like Chicago and New York seem to have a much easier time getting people involved and interested in the art scene. When she said that traffic and the sprawling nature of our city is a major problem, she was terrifyingly right.  When it comes to the arts in LA, this is no joke.

Paul Pescador and Daniel Ingroff, whose site-specific installations are the main focus of their gallery Workspace, agreed that the viewer’s experience in LA is disconnected. Their space is feverishly trying to bridge the gap between the viewer and the artwork, and recently, the pair produced a show in which two identical exhibitions were taking place in two separate galleries. Their mission is carried out in even the smallest of details where the show, cards, invitations, and website design are all painstakingly cohesive.

The most remarkable thing among these luminaries was their shared experience with the City of Los Angeles and public funding for their separate but similar missions. The panelists also shared their experiences in making the decision whether or not to operate as “for profit” or “non-profit” businesses, many agreeing that despite the history of great non-profit art spaces, they’d rather keep their artistic freedom as a “for profit” business than have to deal with the incredible bureaucratic difficulties in obtaining not-for-profit status. If only the LA community could rally behind the arts, it would make their lives and purposes a hell of a lot easier. Unfortunately, there is a constant struggle between gallerists and city governments, so many galleries have to put more attention on making a profit than sharing the type of art that they’d prefer. For example, asked Freddi: where is all of the performance art? Arely pointed out that there is quite a bit of it here in LA, but even people in the arts don’t know about it! Much of what is going on in Chinatown is a mystery to those in Venice, and what’s happening in Culver City is unknown to those in Eagle Rock. Art in this city is anything but viral.

It’s not all bad. Exposing art throughout the city is something that will in fact create community. The arts are becoming more recognized throughout various popular outlets, even if it takes the form of Bravo TV’s newest show, “Work of Art.” But most importantly, as evidenced by this panel, there is a whole new generation of arts pioneers that will stop at nothing to bring the arts to the forefront of our cultural and civic identity. There is a long way to go and much to be done, but the room last Thursday night at LACE was teeming with hope, fervor, and a renewed passion that left everyone feeling inspired.

-By Brittany Krasner

For more information on the Hollywood Fringe Festival, please visit http://www.hollywoodfringe.org.

For more information on LACE, please visit http://www.welcometolace.org/.

I wrote about the Los Angeles Film Fest last year, and made a day-by-day list of the movies and events I was looking forward to go see (as evidenced by this link). And while I would love to do the same thing again this year, there’s a problem. A lot more films on schedule are films I had no idea even existed. Maybe with the Festival’s move from UCLA to Downtown, and with the supposed scale-back of this year’s Sundance, the LAFF also got more “indie?” Or more likely, the marketing budget for independent features went way down this year. Regardless, and out of a resounding sense of selflessness, here’s a list of movies playing at the Los Angeles Film Fest that seem interesting to me:

Down Terrace: Bristish writer-director Ben Wheatley first got noticed with a ten-second viral video he made called “Cunning Stunt.” It’s short, one shot, surprising, and insanely realistic. Wheatley borrows this same attitude, storytelling prowess, and predilection for genre-molds to his first feature, Down Terrace, which he shot in only eight days. It tells the tale of a father-son ex-con team who decide to go after the man they think snitched them out. But when a hit-man, his 3-year-old child, and a bossy matron get involved, what could be a simple, maybe humorous crime farce turns ugly, gritty, and extremely dark. Wheatley is the latest figure in the the long-standing “kitchen sink” tradition of British filmmaking, where much like in “Cunning Stunt,” the mundane and passingly familiar transcend into deeper realms.

Mahler on the Couch: It may be the year for ‘famous-figure-meets-other-famous-figure’ biopics. First there’s Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, and then from Germany, there’s Mahler on the Couch, the meeting of composer Gustav Mahler and father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. In this richly stylized interpretation of actual events, writer-director Percy Adlon—who also made Bagdad Café and Sugarbaby—relates the story of the complex, doomed marriage between Mahler (a supposed manic-depressive) and his wife, as seen through the oddly comic psychotherapy sessions with the most influential figure in 20^th century art and thought.

Marwencol: It’s important to see at least one documentary in any film festival, because frankly, they’re usually the best. The 2010 LA Film Fest is certainly not lacking in good-looking docs, either. But Marcenwol is by far the most curious. It’s the story of Mark Hogencamp, who suffered acute brain trauma after being attacked by a group of local teenagers. The damage left him a near-amnesiac, and he was forced to re-construct a new life for himself. This led to Marwencol, a 1/6 scale model of an imaginary, WWII-era Belgian village that Hogencamp took four years to build in his back-yard. He infused intricate storylines for his action-hero and barbie-doll villagers, many of whom stand in for characters in Mark’s real life. And just as anyone who saw Exit Through the Gift Shop can testify, every good story ends with a visit from the imperial art-world.

Café Noir: Even if you don’t speak Korean (which I do not), I recommend watching the trailer to this feature-debut from former South Korean film-critic Jung Sung-Il. The dialogue and action are deliberate and sparse, the photography is beautiful, and the editing destroys any American-borne notion that the more frantic the preview, the better the movie. In this story of unrequited love, Jung Sung-Il instead takes a page from the Godard school of filmmaking, folds it up into an airplane, and flies it over Russia into South Korea. Along the way, he references Bollywood, Goethe, Dostoyevsky, Christianity, politics, and the entire history of South Korean cinema. This is a movie that foreign-film buffs, nostaligic French New Wavers, and eager dilettantes like myself shouldn’t miss.

Tiny Furniture: This, in my opinion, is probably going to be the smash-hit of the festival. It’s the semi-autobiographical story of 23-year-old, writer-director-star Lena Dunham, a film-studies post-graudate in search of herself. It co-stars Alex Karpovsky (the lovable romantic lead in my favorite movie of last-year, Beeswax), as well as Dunham’s own sister playing, well, Dunham’s sister. I’ll admit, the bitterness in me arouses suspicions of cliché about this movie, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to a young female-helmed movie that shows off young females in a more realistic light than Juno. Who knows?  It may turn out to be my generation’s The Graduate, or (and what I hope), it will turn out to be something more specific, something personal and true, something a fellow-former film/writing major can watch and say, “that’s interesting.”

The 2010 Los Angeles Film Fest runs until June 27^th. For tickets, times, and more information, please call (310) 432-1240, or visit www.lafilmfest.com.

Stand-up comedy and Los Angeles have had a notoriously dysfunctional relationship history. The city—a sunny desert town run by movie studios—is not inherently nurturing toward live, solo spouts of jokes and complaints. Any comedian will tell you the laughter comes from dark places, and the colder, more crowded and desperate the environment, the funnier the jokes.

But LA does have the proverbial carrot on a string, the reason a lot of comedians even get into the game—stardom. The sheer proximity of such clubs as The Comedy Store and The Laugh Factory to the lots of Universal and Warner Brothers is reason enough for most young funnymen to pack up some flip-flops and go. After all, the Walk of Fame is littered with such once-upon-a-time transports—Bob Newhart, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Sam Kinison, Richard Pryor, Richard Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, etc.

And there in lies the rub. A city full of comedians, many in fact talented, with no set audience—supply before demand. This contradiction is what led to the infamous comedian strike of the late 1970’s against Mitzi Shore and The Comedy Store (culminating in the suicide of comedian Steve Lubetkin), and more indirectly, to the way the big name clubs are run today: two-drink minimums, secret waitlists for open mics, overpriced admission, and the requirement of newer comedians to bring their own audience.

So what, oh what is a comedian (and a die-hard fan, like me) supposed to do? Just put up with the nonsense? No, not in the age of MySpace and Facebook. These days, it’s all about the self-produced showcase, and there’s not a better one in town than Maria Bamford and Melinda Hill’s What’s Up Tiger Lily? It’s free, every Monday night, 8:00 PM at the Hollywood Studio Bar and Grill on Sunset, and features some of the best known and new comedians in the business. It’s been going on for the past three years, and used to take place on Wednesday nights in Silver Lake, but has since moved venues—correlating with the broader shift in the public’s comedic sensibility from more “mainstream,” observational humor to the excessively personal, sometimes abstract “alternative” comedy built up in the early ‘90’s.

The show this past Monday was hosted by up-and-comer Jake Weisman, who fretted out a string of fast-paced confessions about his cats, his veganism, and his unintentionally gay appearance, before introducing a night-full of simliar and often hilarious self-depricators and storytellers.

The highlights for me were of course Maria Bamford (who’s patented “voices” of friends and family surpass gimmickry and enter the world of depth-psychology once you realize they might just be coming from inside her head); David Koechner, of Anchorman fame, who riffed in the guise of two made-up characters for so long and with so much ease, you forgot who was telling the jokes; and finally Kyle Kinane, quickly becoming my favorite new comedian, if only because he seems to be truly genuine in even his most absurd humor.

I also enjoyed Chris Hardwick (a for-sure crowd pleaser), Melinda Hill, Jonah Ray, and Chelsea Peretti, but do wonder if the somewhat overbearing amount of comedians on bill took away from their solid acts. After all, this is the one leftover staple—the huge line-up—from the more mainstream clubs that still haunts otherwise superb shows like What’s Up Tiger Lily! I fully realize that even 5 minutes is a hard time-slot to fill, and fresh faces deserve their stage time, but wouldn’t it be nice to see, for once, just three or four excellent comedians doing a half-hour each in a cheap, intimate setting? You know, sort of like bands at music venues?

Just a thought, and maybe a wasted one in a city such as Los Angeles. For now, I suggest the next best thing, which is most certainly What’s Up Tiger Lily! This upcoming Monday’s line-up: Marc Maron (who’s WTF podcast is a must), Greg Proops, TJ Miller, and many more.

What’s Up Tiger Lily! is every Monday night, 8:00 PM at the Hollywood Studio Bar and Grill inside the Denny’s parking lot on Sunset. For more information, please visit http://www.myspace.com/whatsuptigerlily.

A sense of community is one of the many reasons people frequent gallery openings.  When everyone’s milling around on a Saturday night, Grolsch or Tecate in hand, discussing the work of some emerging artist hung on the stark white walls of a Culver City gallery and deciding where to imbibe next, there’s a sneaking sense of belonging.  Once you find a gallery with the same taste as yours, it’s only a matter of time until that’s your local spot where everyone knows your name.

With all this in mind, Edgar Varela Fine Arts has got the right idea.  At their previous location, a number of openings featuring various artists were held giving regulars and newcomers the idea that it was as much about doing something interesting and new as it was about experiencing new artist’s work.  The new location strives to continue driving the point home.  The grand opening of this new space, on W. 5th Street in downtown LA, will be held on Wednesday night and will highlight the feminine work of artist Ashley Gibbons in an exhibition called “Coquettish Modernisms.” She utilizes quilting, lingerie, and other fabric-based materials to create images that reflect women and the female form in a modern way.  Gibbons puts hardware to good use as well, stretching lingerie across a canvas with screws and nails.  Her show at Edgar Varela Fine Arts runs from Wednesday (May 12) through June 26, 2010.

Edgar Varela is an independent art collector and dealer with a panache for throwing art-related events that Angelenos actually want to attend.  If you like what you see, make sure you keep coming back – you’ll want to be known as a regular.

Ashley Gibbon’s “Coquettish Modernisms” opens Wednesday, May 12 from 5 – 9pm at Edgar Varela Fine Arts. Click here for more information.

We may be geographically far from, well, everywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep up with all the arts endeavors across every which pond.  So here’s a bit of news (for the very serious and elite readers) and a bonus round of what’s going on in LA that really deserves your attention (for those who care about little outside LA county).

First, a stop in Paris at the Petit Palais.  The Parisian museum brings to the fore the artistic achievements of none other than Yves Saint Laurent.  Curated by Florence Muller and Farid Chenoune, the exhibit, called Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective features gowns, menswear, some of the designer’s treasured personal items used in creative pursuits, and it highlight themes used throughout the many collections in Saint Laurent’s illustrious career.  One ticket to France, please! {Global Post}

Onto Italy.  In Milan, our very own Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition has commenced.  Founded in 1993, Domingo’s opera competition is meant to find the cream of the crop amongst new talent in opera.  The singers represent not only a range of vocal categories (from coloratura soprano to the lowest bass), but also an array of countries around the world.  The competition ends May 2 (this Saturday), so you’ll have a new vocalist’s career to follow starting Sunday, May 3rd.  We have a feeling it will be meteoric.  {Culture Monster}

Not to shower the French with too much attention, though they don’t mind, Sotheby’s has made quite the announcement prior to the upcoming auction season.  The storied (and once thought lost) private collection of legendary Parisian art dealer Amrboise Vollard is set to meet the auction block.  His career was spent promoting such up-and-comers as Picasso, Cezanne, and Renoir and Vollard’s collection includes not only paintings, but such enticing items as prints, drawings, and artist books.  The sale will be held in London on June 22, so brush up on your British colloquialisms.  {ArtInfo}

Back at home, there is much to celebrate.  Dig into your pockets just a bit to buy yourself a ticket to the Architecture and Design Museum’s official Grand Opening!  For $75, you’ll mingle with a veritable who’s who of the architecture and design world in LA at the reception tomorrow night (April 27), (hint: you can also find them anywhere from Father’s Office to Tar Pit on weeknights), check out the first exhibit, and bid on things at the silent auction.  {A+D Museum}  Also, if you haven’t uploaded his schedule into your iCal already, Gustavo Dudamel has returned to the LA Phil – he’s conducting pretty regularly from now through May 8 on a number of concerts all worthy of splurging for tickets.  {LA Phil} This is your last chance to see LACMA’s exhibit Renoir in the 20th Century.  The exhibit closes May 9. {LACMA} Last, but certainly not least, turns out that parodies of Wagner and his Ring Cycle abound.  LA Times’ Culture Monster shows us the best of the best. {Culture Monster}