November 2009 Archives

Living in a world where gender is often demarcated for us, we forget that it can be refreshingly open for interpretation. This workshop is all about expanding how we think about gender. It is also about saying yes to that generously-applied bright blue eye-shadow ... and then applying one more layer. Machine Project invites you to learn how to do drag and do drag right. Drag Queen experts Saskia Wilson-Brown and Austin Young will take you through the whole transformation process and will leave you feeling like an ultra-fabulous butterfly. FYI, this workshop is open to all!

Santa's Sleigh is cruising down Hollywood Boulevard again this year.

The 2009 Hollywood Christmas Parade will follow a 2.5 mile route through the heart of Hollywood.

Sitting in a dark theater, we are often so entertained by the film on the screen, we overlook the medium's role as archive. The Public School celebrates film as visual record in a seminar that discusses a handful of films that capture the powerful political moments that have helped realize are current, still imperfect, political state. And while these films are limited and pointed products of the past, they can serve as tools to reconstruct, even challenge our past, and encourage us to ask questions about the current and future state of the political avant-garde.

Los Angeles has always had a knack for fiction, often at the expense of truth. That's why it comes as no surprise that our local history still occupies no more than a smidgen of our collective conscious even today. The documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself urges you to put an end to that, and ask yourself if our real history, one filled with real wonder, might just be as interesting as that which we've created. The short answer? Yes and some.

Looking for respite after Black Friday? Well, why not let Alfred Hitchcock distract you from the shopping mania. LACMA is presenting an ongoing series of his best British thrillers. Headlining this week's double-bill is Hitchcock's classic The Lady Vanishes, the psychological thriller that catapulted his career in American cinema. Immediately following is the underrated chase film Young and Innocent. Sadly, no screening of The Birds on this post-Turkey weekend.

If the goal of these frequent events is to remind us that Los Angeles is filled with wonderful museums, then they sure seem to be doing their job. Over this Thanksgiving break, members should check out any number of SoCal institutions. It's an easy way to scour your day away in a guilt-free manner. And, as an added plus, the in-store deals should supply some early holiday ammunition.

Where does Cinefamily find this stuff? They're keeping the ball running with two consecutive showings of a 1949 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a surreal version of the Disney classic that intertwines stop-motion with live-action to create a fundamentally different movie. If there is a type of movie worth shelling over double-digit bucks for, it's a rarity like this one.

And you thought music never did anything productive... The Echo is back with it's 11th annual Gobble Gobble Give, a day in which participants gather at the Echo, package up food into personalized meals, and head throughout the city to provide the homeless with the Thanksgiving meal that so many of us cherish. Overall, it's a great way to remind yourself of what this holiday come to symbolize: selflessness and togetherness.

Even in our tough economy Thanksgiving Dinner is back. (And it's free!)

For over 30 years, Union Station Homeless Services has sponsored annual Dinners-in-the-Park on Thanksgiving Day. Held in Pasadena's Central Park, these events bring together thousands of volunteers to serve a hearty meal and holiday cheer to less fortunate community members.

It's an interesting time for the Getty to come out with an exhibition like this one. After all, the summer's embarrassing health care debates did again relegate 'socialism' to the bin of national dirty words. Yet, in our divided society, we must today beg the question: how do we as Americans value the ideas of the worker? As wages decrease in our manufacturing center, and any attempt at their defense is labeled un-American and un-wise, have we forgotten those who allegedly compose the 'fabric of our nation'? Run out to the Getty, please, and restructure your thoughts on what's seeming to become a forgotten people.

In conjunction with Sci Arc's current exhibition, deegan day design's BLOW x BLOW (up through December 13th), the school is hosting Friends of Friends, a discussion series that will provide a platform for prominent L.A. artists and art enthusiasts to share their thoughts on the exhibition. Monday's conversationalists are video artist Josh Melnick and Lauri Firstenberg, Director/Curator of LAXART, a nonprofit that supports the production of new work by architects, artists, and designers.

Get your holiday season started early at The Grove.

On Sunday, November 22nd at 7:30pm The Grove is lighting its Christmas Tree and providing free musical performances by Five for Fighting, Cirque du Soleil, Lonestar, Jon Secada, Sheena Easton, and more. There will also be celebrity appearances by Dean Cain, Della Reese, and other surprise guests

If you're hoping to get classy this weekend, then an art opening it is for you. And this week, we've got to say that Mr. Ockenfel's exhibit is looking hard to beat. The photographer will feature work from throughout his extensive career with rock stars, and, sadly, we have to admit that looking at fantastic pictures of famous people still floats our boats. Oh, the shame! Might as well embrace it.

On a nice Saturday, the Getty is calling your name, providing you with a great view and means to entertain the kids. The entertainment? Guided drawing workshops, which will sharpen skills and, hopefully, give the adults some artistic stimulation as well. Admit it, it's been too long since you made it out to the Getty anyway. This is a fine reason to do just that.

Yeah, it's members only, but if you've got the card, make your way downtown. All those at MOCA are, after all, in quite good spirits after dodging bankruptcy in what has turned out to be one of those most difficult years in museum history. It took some million dollar donations, but here they stand, back from the brink. What we're trying to say is that this party will be, for all intent and purpose, a happening.

Looking for an event where you are asked to take bizarre photographs and assassinate fellow Angelinos? Well, look no further. Wiseguys have found a way to combine these two favorite pass times into one all-new game. Self-described as "half creative photo scavenger hunt and half Assassins aka Bounty Hunter", there is no end to the fun ... as long as you watch your back while you get those snapshots.

Those who reside outside Los Angeles have the bizarre notion that we are a city of non-walkers. Help prove them wrong by taking part in this year's Great Los Angeles Walk, where we will be making our way from downtown to the great Pacific blue. Here's a chance to see the city from a vantage point other than your windshield. Put on some sneakers, get your twitter feed ready (yes, they are encouraging live tweeting), and start moving those legs!

Sure things rarely come as sure as this, as the Ahmanson recreates an award-winning musical that has already made its way around the worldwide circuit. In case you haven't been, by the way, the Ahmanson is a fantastic place to see a show, intimate enough to make any seat in the house a great one. This one, therefore, should be marked as 'definitely' in your calendar. If you can't make it out this weekend, it will be on for a while, of course. Just don't let yourself forget.

You can make this holiday season memorable with a frosty tradition....

Pershing Square is offering ice skating in LA's temperate downtown again this year. In it's 12th season, Downtown on Ice is a cool way for families to go outdoors and get some exercise. The rink is open Thursday, November 19, 2009 through Monday, January 18, 2010

This summer, emotion gave way to decency as Americans on both sides of the political spectrum took aim at their ideological foes, ripping into the health care arguments with a viciousness usually reserved for personal matters. But what is it about health care, as opposed to, say, war, that hits such a strong chord in us? Zocalo's forum will no doubt give us the most well-rounded of answers.

Once again, the Skirball has put together another fantastic exhibition. It seems odd, in fact, that such a simple, powerful concept as Civil Rights photography took so long to come to fruition in the L.A. museum scene. The images can and will stand on their own, so the Skirball's added commentary will only heighten the power of an exhibition so riveting, you might even forget it's educational.

In the mood for some experimental abstract video? Aren't we all. Lucky for us, this week the talented grads at UCLA's Design Media Arts program are curating a show to meet all our abstraction needs. The selection will cover a wide and varied range of video explorations on the topic of abstraction, from the geometric to the spiritual.

KCET invites you to serve your community through service. Our weekly Get Involved page features ways for you to connect with organizations in need of a helping hand.

Well, this whole pot thing is sure heating up, isn't it? Heck, people aren't even debating the legalities of medical marijuana dispensaries anymore. The conversation at Town Hall this Tuesday morning? All out legalization. The idea seems to be gaining wind so fast, in fact, that panels like this one could hold some sway over the millions of Californians who find themselves without a stance on this controversial and, suddenly, legitimate issue.

R. Crumb might have wrapped up his much hyped UCLA talk over a week ago, but the buzz just ain't dying. That's especially true at the Hammer Museum, where 826LA is hosting all ages of children on Sunday in an event meant to get those creative juices flowing and transferred onto pages. The inspiration? Why, none other than Mr. R. Crumb himself. But don't worry yourself: this one will be suitable enough for the little ones.

It often feels as if pollutants are an inextricable part of Los Angeles culture. The Fifth Ecology begs to differ. This Sunday marks the opening of an exhibit that imagines our city as a space that is as green as it is urban. This exhibit serves to remind us that cities are not dead, static stretches of land, but living, working networks that continue to evolve. The Fifth Ecology offers a bright possibility for our ever-changing city.

If you like cute, or, for that matter, talented, then it's looking like L.A. Children's Chorus for you this Saturday, as the kiddies bust through some of California's greatest original work as part of the older Philharmonic's "West Coast, Left Coast" music festival. The songs will be divine and the children will be adorable, so if you're looking to up your faith in humanity, this is an event that will do just that.

Diavolo reinvents dance, re-imagines theater, and redefines thrills. Theatergoers around the world are always wondering what sort of wizardry artistic director Jacques Heim will conjure up next for his daring troupe of performers.

Back in 2000, would anyone have thought Mr. Gore would transform into the environmental juggernaut he is today? The Nobel-winning politician is touring the circuit with Our Choice, a book in which he attempts to lay out all the policy hurdles environmentalists will face in the coming years (it's a long list, in case you don't know). Forty dollars might seem a little steep for an ex-Vice President, but remember, you do receive a free copy of the book.

Thankfully, the war in Afghanistan has gotten a bit more attention recently, and this Larry Mantle-monitored discussion should prove to answer all sorts of question on that near quagmire in the Middle East. Whether laymen or expert, you'll be intrigued by Mantle's to-the-point interviewing style, and, if you don't know quite what to do over there, be assured you'll at least have an opinion by the end of the night.

Forget Wonder Woman. This week's double bill for the 28th annual Contemporary Documentaries series highlights intrepid women who get the job done sans lasso of truth. Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh tells the story of a poet and paratrooper who took part in a military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Then Pray the Devil Back to Hell, the story of a group of Liberian women who led a nonviolent grassroots campaign against their country's civil war. Hard to imagine a more inspiring evening.

The Culver City Redevelopment Center presents "SPEAK EASY" an evening of spoken word and fine jazz featuring poet Wanda Colemen and bass player John B. Williams.

Veterans Days is celebrated on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month because it originally marked the end of World War I, or Armistice Day. Now many wars and conflicts later, the holiday has been renamed to honor all veterans. Here are some of the memorial services, parades, and festivals in the Los Angeles area honoring our Veterans.

Every week, KCET invites you to connect with your community through service. This week, KCET features ways to celebrate Veterans Day and support troops past and present.

Whenever an event is big enough to close down Wilshire Boulevard, it's worth a look. So please check out the Wall Project, an extraordinarily elaborate attempt to recreate the Berlin Wall in Los Angeles. This project is monstrous in scope, and with the destruction of the wall coming this Sunday -- on the eve of the original wall's collapse -- it won't fall short of being, well, completely epic.

The Autry National Center presents "Carbon Black" by Terry Gomez (Comanche). Native Voices at the Autry, is America's leading Native American theater company. It kicks off its 10th anniversary season with Carbon Black: a gripping, suspenseful, and enigmatic psychological drama.

The Autry National Center presents over 250 baskets selected from the world's largest collection of Native American basketry from the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. This display of historic and contemporary baskets, combined with multimedia elements, tells the story of a living art through the voices of the weavers themselves.

Orhan Pamuk is in town for a talk. The author of My Name is Red now edges on being the voice of Turkish fiction in the west, and certainly has a lot to say about seemingly everything and anything. Come downtown as the Nobel-winning Columbia Professor sits down at the Japanese American Community Center for what is warming up to be a fun event with a great mind.

The Chicagp-based 9-piece brass band of brothers will deliver their unique brand of jazz this weekend at the Echoplex. Need some convincing that this is the place to be Friday? I'll just let the music speak for itself. Also for your listening pleasure that night, dj sets by Madlib, B+ and Coleman.

Two upcoming screenings of work by L.A.-based artist and filmmaker Lewis Klahr. KCET blogger Holly Willis on Klahr's work: "Mix the detritus of a Robert Rauschenberg collage with the excess and veiled social commentary of a Douglas Sirk melodrama and you might come close to a film by Los Angeles filmmaker Lewis Klahr, who makes his collage animations from images snipped out of books and magazines; these pictures are moved inch by inch beneath a camera to create movement, resulting in powerful visual artworks and deeply engrossing, if enigmatic, stories."

How might buildings bust a move if they got out on the dance floor? Thursday, the MOCA attempts to answer that age-old question. The Slanguage art collective's teen break-dancing group Dub City Tribe will take on brutalist architecture (those muscular, concrete high-rises peppered throughout Southern California's cityscape). The group's choreography both explores the characteristics of these massive structures, and provides commentary on our relationship to them.

It has been said that there are no new stories, only new ways to tell them. LACMA's current exhibition, Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India's Comics, examines just that, how the archetypal and the traditional surface in modern storytelling. The show zooms in on the contemporary Indian comic book to reveal that ancient narratives and visuals lie at the heart of the artform. Thursday night, exhibition curator Julie Romain will present an introductory lecture on the contemporary Indian comic, followed by a private tour of the exhibition.

It's rare to be able to step into the mind of a creative genius just as his career culminates, but that's exactly what Los Angeles Magazine has stumbled upon as it interviews Mad Men Creator Matthew Weiner this Wednesday. The show is hugely popular, perhaps one of the most successful ever, and for only $20 you can find some answers to the millions of questions this mysterious show engenders. Cough it up.

KCET invites you to serve your community through service. Our weekly Get Involved page features ways for you to connect with organizations in need of a helping hand. This week KCET features ways for animal lovers to give back to our four-legged friends.

Most of us are familiar with the iconic and far-reaching animation of Fred Wolf. Who doesn't remember the collegiate owl who couldn't wait to bite into the center of that tootsie pop? The Silent Movie Theater celebrates Wolf with a film retrospective. Following the screening, a Q&A with Wolf himself.

The 3rd Annual Native American Heritage Month Community Powwow is sponsored by the American Indian Community Council. All drums & dancers are welcome. The traditional Gourd Dance begins at 11:00am and the Grand Entry is at noon.

Halloween is almost here! You can still be excited for the holiday even if you're past your Trick or Treating days. Check out these ways to get excited, get in costume, and get involved volunteering in Los Angeles this weekend.