Team FALA

Anyone who’s spent even a small amount of time on the African continent has a good idea of what people mean when they use the phrase “African nostalgia.”  Even if you haven’t traveled there, it’s easy to get a back-to-our-roots sense from the culture, art, music, and design available to us in the US.  Everything from HBO’s “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” to Youssou Ndour’s documentary I Bring What I Love shows this simple side of life, but not in a melancholy way.  Instead, we see this beautiful, rhythmic, traditional lifestyle in which tribal differences are as often respected as they are fought over.  A primary part of what we know, culturally, about the continent is the music of Angelique Kidjo – a singer who hails from Benin and whose voice sooths as it entices.

With formal jazz music training from the CIM in Paris, Kidjo performed last March at USC’s Bovard Auditorium and has worked with some of music’s greatest performers including Carlos Santana, Ziggy Marley, and Peter Garbiel on her recent album Djin Djin.  Her music will, we have no doubt, be of the strength and soul that it will fill the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday evening (February 28) during her solo performance.  To make sure that we’re all on the same page with this brand of “African nostalgia,” we’re giving away tickets for Kidjo’s Sunday evening performance!

This is, indeed, an Extra! Extra! giveaway – a reluctant one, since we wanted to keep this tickets for our greedy little selves.  Just keep in mind that by entering into this giveaway, you’re automatically entered into the next three we agree to giveaway.  All we need is your first name, last name, and your email address and voila – you’ll feel like you’re picking through markets in Dakar in no time.

(Click here if the nostalgia is all too much and you’d rather buy your own tickets.)

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

We can’t wait for all the new art and experiences 2010 will bring.  And we know you can’t either!  Happy new year and best wishes from all of us at Fine Arts LA!

Love,

Team FALA

Well, dear readers… It’s that time of year again.  We want to take a moment to wish you a very happy holiday season filled with warmth, joy, and love.  Most of all, we want to thank you for being so loyal and supportive to us – we (quite literally) would be lost in cyberspace without you!

So enjoy your Christmas Day and let’s keep our fingers crossed that someone was listening as you dropped hints all year… “Ooh, I would just love to hang that print in the dining room…”

Happy Holidays, everyone!

xoxo FALA

Note: Christmas in LA looks nothing like this photo…

So I’ve been writing for Fine Arts LA for almost a year now, and I realized that this affords me one of the greatest of art-reviewers’ honors: the end-of-the-year top-ten list.  As a devout follower of numerous art, theatre, and film writers, I find that it’s often popular to downplay the top-ten tradition, dismiss it as a sad reality of the quick-fix world we live in.  But even in this downplaying, there’s a hint of relish in the writer’s voice, as if he/she felt obligated to somehow contain their own excitement at the prospect of shedding off those hundreds upon hundreds of shows, films, galleries, albums, installations, and happenings they consumed throughout the year, finally to narrow it down to the even, clean number of ten.

I myself haven’t been to hundreds of shows this year.  But as a weekly contributor to Fine Arts LA, I have been privy to some of the best art this crazy city has to offer, and I wasn’t limited to one medium.  I saw plays, movies, photography exhibits, I even flirted with the perils of a natural disaster, and thus… my top ten:

10. “Sam Cherry: Photographs of Charles Bukowski, the Black Cat, and Skid Row”

Representing one half of the double exhibit entitled “Bukowski and Burroughs” that went up in early April at the Track 16 Gallery, this series of simple photographs succeeded in portraying what none of these phantasmagoric, apocalyptic fantasy movies can pull off: it showed an old, self-destructive man, reflecting back on the good times he’s had, proud yet regretful, strong yet weak.

9. Ken Tanaka’s “Maximum Pleasant”

Ken Tanaka is one artist/performer/youtube-phenomenon I was lucky enough to interview.  His show at the Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery back in May included videos, paintings, drawings, music, and even a fully functional garage sale.  But it neither the media mash-up that impressed me about Ken nor even his possible double identity.  It was his sense of pure pleasure in creation, his contagious childlike sense of comedy that emanates off his pieces, and made for one of the smiley-est art openings I’ve seen in LA.

8. Landscaping the Den of Saints

It’s easy to skip over small, live theatre in Los Angeles, especially when it’s a three-hour meditation on the ideas of success and ambition like Jacob Smith’s recent, original production at the Avery Schreiber Theatre.  But sometimes you miss out on gems, and this play took on the issue of being young and hungry in Los Angeles, and ended up representing the struggle with a sense of playful accuracy.  And actor Sean Fitzgerald deserves some sort of award for his transformative performance.

7. Visioneers

This film, which is now up on Netflix instant-play, began its distribution independently.  And I mean independently.  I saw Visioneers at the Echo Park Film Center, when it was traveling around to any screen that would take it, and I have to say that it stuck with me.  Starring the still-underrated Zack Galifianakis, the movie is about spontaneous combustion in a futuristic, corporate-run society, where giving someone the middle finger is a sign of respect.  Every time I enter an office building, I think of the bearded Galifianakis flicking me off with a smile.

6. Gavin Bunner’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”

Another interviewee, the friendly Mr. Bunner isn’t afraid to dress in a cardboard Moby Dick costume and compete in a public boxing match against a Berenstein Bear.  Sure it seems silly, but it’s emblematic of what this young, promising painter is attempting to capture and celebrate in his work: the absurd convergence of pop and pomp in our Google-ingrained brains.

5. Lie of the Mind

I only saw this play last week, so it might just be a fresh lie of my own mind, but Studio Five Productions’ latest show, which you can still catch until the 19th at the Studio/Stage Theatre, is a brave and forceful retelling of Sam Shepard’s original, 1985 story.  The actors are physical and fierce, the music is haunting, the makeup is extraordinary, and the set is like something Jason Schwartzman’s character would dream up in Rushmore.

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You tend not to think about Fine Arts LA and the Roosevelt Hotel in the same brain wave – understandably.  Last time we reported on paparazzi and Lindsay Lohan was, well, never.  On this occasion, however, we’re pleased to strongly recommend (require, even) that you reconsider any preconceived notions of this Hollywood hotel-to-the-stars.  Friend of Fine Arts LA, Eden Espinosa, will be performing for one night only at the Roosevelt Hotel’s Cinegrill tomorrow night.

The show, called From Eden With Love, which premiered at Feinstein’s in New York, shows a whole new side to Eden that neither her fans nor we have seen before.  Rather than knocking out songs from Broadway favorites, Eden has compiled a nine piece band – 3 strings, 2 horns, and a rhythm section – and has been taking requests.  The songs she’ll perform run the gamut from “I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten” by Dusty Springfield to “#1 Crush” by Garbage as they’re all songs that friends, family, and fans have requested to hear over the years.  You can go at 8pm or at 10pm, but once the clock strikes midnight (or once she’s done singing, really), you’re chance to hear this incredibly talented voice in a more intimate setting than, say, as Elpheba in Wicked at the Pantages, has passed.

We never thought we’d say this, but… wanna meet at the Roosevelt on Saturday night?

Eden Espinosa’s From Eden With Love will be performed at 8pm and at 10pm on Saturday, Dec 12 at Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  For more information, please click here.

Click here to watch our video interview with Eden Espinosa and her Wicked co-star Megan Hilty.

Hello dearest readers,

Here at Fine Arts LA, we just wanted to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with turkey, gravy, stuffing, and all the pumpkin pie you can get your hands on. (Don’t forget the whipped cream, Thanksgiving comes but once a year!)

We are thankful for a great many things this year, but at the top of that list comes our team members and, of course, YOU!  Thanks for reading and passing the word along…

Love,

the Fine Arts LA team

There are only four days before Thanksgiving.  Heaven knows Fine Arts LA has plenty to be thankful for.  Let us count the ways!

The Surging Number of Food Trucks — These bad boys (and girls) are making a presence at practically every art event in Los Angeles through Twitter-based campaigns.  With delicious cuisine ranging from Indian food to gastro pub food to dessert, we want to thank you for saving us on many Saturday nights after downing one too many Grolsch beers.  Thank you, food trucks!

LACMA Film Program – You never fully appreciate something until it’s gone, or until it’s hanging on by a thread just waiting to be cut by the budget police.  Thanks to the wonderful people at Save Film at LACMA, we are fortunate to have the rich film program of classic and international films at LACMA away from its grave.  And we couldn’t be more thrilled by the fact that through this grassroots effort, we will be sitting pretty watching all of our favorite films, at least until June 2010.  Thank you, Save Film at LACMA!

MOCA’s Comeback – One year ago, we were all shocked by the reports that revealed MOCA was teetering on the brink of financial disaster.  And look at ‘em now!  They are keeping their doors open with the help of philanthropist Eli Broad and the work of countless others.  Taking it all in last night at MOCA’s 30th Birthday Party, I was fortunate enough to enjoy a Lemonade red velvet cupcake with the best of them all while catching a preview of their latest show.  Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years reveals the best of MOCA’s inventory, the tastes of chief curator Paul Schimmel, and the vision of curators before.  Thank you, MOCA and Eli Broad!

The Broad Stage — Speaking of Eli Broad, there is a lovely contemporary gem on the horizon in Santa Monica – The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage.  The home of dance, theatre, voice, chamber music, film, and spoken word, it is as if the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s little sister is making its claim on the Westside bringing home the best talents without a trip on the 10 freeway. Thank you, Broad Stage!

Gustavo Dudamel – Even before he arrived, this city was crazed about this talented, young man from Venezuela.  As the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel’s personality, playfulness, and passion have been infused into every portion of his program.  Making grown women (and men) behave like children and professing their crush at any given moment, Mr. Dudamel has taken this city by storm one concert at a time and has caught the attention of everyone including those unfamiliar with classical music. Bienvenido, Gustavo, y mil gracis!

And finally, we are most thankful for you, dear readers…  Without you to check us out daily, to recommend us to your friends, and to Google image search the most oddest things to find our website, we would cease to exist.  So thank you!!

What are you most thankful for?

Image: David Rex Ketchum

This past week, I saw four plays in two nights, all within a one mile radius of each other—a combined cast of ten, but at least twenty roles to fill—five-and-a-half hours in all (intermissions included), yet just two titles.  Stumped?

On one evening, I journeyed to the Freud Playhouse for UCLA Live’s newest production of Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce.  This prize-winning, Irish madhouse of a play, which has scored high praise from audiences in both Europe and the U.S., tests the ability of the viewer to keep up with its fast-paced, absurdist antics.  Under the direction of Mikel Murfi—who’s been with the show since its inception at The Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland—the three main characters of the four-person play go about their daily routine amidst the cramped, London flat they call home.  Yet the daily routine of this trio (father and two grown sons) involves the obsessive reenactment of the exact events—beat-for-beat, line-for-line—of the day they last saw their long-lost wife/mother.  Traipsing around the three-room flat at lightning speed, swapping wigs, drag-dressing, imitating two characters at once (not to mention murdering a couple) are just some of the elements involved in this highly dysfunctional family’s farce.  It’s what happens when the characters are dropped, however, when the real roles are revealed, that the farce belies the true tragedy beneath the surface.

I traveled back to the Westwood area to the Geffen Playhouse for a preview of Equivocation.  Written by Bill Cain and directed by David Esbjornson, the play concerns itself with modern-tongued playwright William “Shag” Shakespeare, circa 1605-1606.  Shag and his band of “Globe-trotters” are commissioned by Sir Robert Cecil to write a play based on the events of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Shakespeare delves deeper into the “true” events of the plot and finds more damning information than he could ever perform on a stage, let alone in front of the King.  The question of the play, as well as the play within the play, becomes how to successfully equivocate, how to tell the truth in the face of grave danger, and still come out alive.  Check out our video interview with the cast and our special Equivocation ticket discount here.

The Walworth Farce ends this Sunday, November 15 and is playing at UCLA Live’s Freud Playhouse.  For more information, please call (310) 825-2101 or click here.

Equivocation is playing at the Geffen Playhouse through November 29, 2009.  For more information, please call (310) 208-5454 or click here.

You’ve tried time and again to get all your favorite artists together under one roof.  The dinner parties are a mess – one artist is a macrobiotic vegan, another shows up three hours late, and they all chain smoke so much that your house smells like a pool hall.

Okay, so maybe we’re generalizing, but it can be hard to fit more than one artist in a room.

Not for Warren Brand and BOXeight Studios, it seems.  Friday night, November 13, they’re hosting ARTBOX at their downtown space that will combine the work of so many artists we literally can’t list them.  Some of them include David Flores, Crash, Augustine Kofie, Kelly Vivanco, Thomas Han, and like we said, too many others.  But you can rest assured that the work you’ll see spans a host of genres and styles like street art, photography, and even a painting demonstration.  Featuring a large collection of both emerging and established artists, ARTBOX comes at just the right time to discover your new favorite artist – now you’ll know what to say when someone asks what to get you for the holidays.

Harder than fitting this many artists in one room is packing them in without some unparalleled hip-hop of the old school persuasion to drown out their ‘revolutionary’ chatter (we jest out of love).  That’s why the boys and girls at BOXeight have come through with Biz Markie as Friday night’s DJ.  You can thank him for getting you out of a conversation about the beauty of spilt milk on pavement and for asking if s/he is really just a friend.  He’s got what you need.

Considering you rarely go anywhere without us, you’ll find team Fine Arts LA taking photos to capture all the action – come visit us! We promise not to wax-poetic.

ARTBOX at BOXeight studios is Friday, November 13 from 7pm.  For more information, please click here.  Hope to see you there!