Arts, music and culture

News, observations and links on the arts, music, theater, dance, photography and local institutions

James Turrell show at LACMA almost didn't make it

Kevin Roderick | June 17, 2013 12:40 AM

This weekend's New York Times Magazine had a long feature on how artist James Turrell has "knocked the art world off its feet," partly by opening three major shows in different cities inside a month. One of those cities is Los Angeles, as we have posted already. What hasn't been covered in LA is just how close the intricate LACMA show came to not being ready on time.

Councilman Koretz sings with Dave Davies of the Kinks (video)

Kevin Roderick | June 12, 2013 9:35 AM

Councilman Paul Koretz interrupted Dave Davies' encore at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills to present the former Kinks member with a proclamation — then he sang along on "Living on a Thin Line."

Drummer girls

Judy Graeme | June 11, 2013 10:12 PM

The Grammy Museum bills Ringo: Peace and Love, which opens Wednesday, as the first major exhibit dedicated to the former Beatle's career and the first ever for a drummer. The exhibit runs through March 2014.

The Boxer Rebellion misses show: band's gear stuck at KCRW (video)

Kevin Roderick | June 8, 2013 6:09 PM

Video from inside the tense KCRW studios just before yesterday's evacuation. The U.K. band had to cancel last night's show at The Avalon. Will try again Sunday.

Hey, Coachella has your keys and cellphone

Kevin Roderick | June 7, 2013 12:37 AM

Coachella music festival promoter Goldenvoice has been trying since April to repatriate hundreds of wallets, cellphones, car keys and other items with the fans who left them behind in the desert. They really work hard to find the owners.

An Alabaman reviews 'The Scottsboro Boys'

Mary Daily | June 6, 2013 11:53 PM

It's a tragic tale and all the more because it's true. It needs to be told to every generation to remind us of where we've been and could easily go again. But it needs to be told in a way that communicates its gravity. Cruel injustice is not a laughing matter.

The night shooter

Andrea Brody | June 6, 2013 11:20 PM

The velvety, black night serves as both inspiration and backdrop for Los Angeles photo artist Darren Pearson, aka Darius Twin. His subjects skeletons and dinosaurs of light have drawn the attention of the Natural History Museum, which has invited him to stage a live dinosaur "light art" presentation in conjunction with the museum's June 9 birthday.

Dave Davies of the Kinks to be honored Friday at City Hall

Kevin Roderick | June 6, 2013 6:55 PM

That's the Van Nuys city hall, where the Los Angeles City Council will hold its Friday meeting. Davies is in town to perform at the Canyon Club and elsewhere. Vintage videos inside.

Weekend video: It was 46 years ago today (actually, yesterday)

Kevin Roderick | June 2, 2013 8:56 PM

The Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released in the United States on June 1 in 1967. Music writer Chris Morris: "LIke every other 17-year-old in America...we turned the lights down and listened in awe as the last sustained piano chord in 'A Day in the Life' reverberated and died."

Figaro there, Tosca there

Donna Perlmutter | May 28, 2013 10:33 PM

in a single weekend we saw LA Opera's "Tosca" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, "Dulce Rosa" at Santa Monica's Broad Stage, and most stunningly sophisticated of all, Christopher Alden's staging of "Le nozze di Figaro" with Gustavo Dudamel helming his Mozart-sized band in a makeshift semi-pit at Disney Hall.

How Joel Wachs built a pop art empire

Kevin Roderick | May 27, 2013 11:25 PM

I don't think any politician who moved on from Los Angeles City Hall in recent times has invented a new life for himself (or herself) more successfully than Joel Wachs. The former city councilman from the Valley has been the president of the Andy Warhol Foundation in New York for more than a decade now — and his moves have made him a transformative figure in the art world.

LACMA mounts an exhibition that may be the best thing hardly anyone sees

Bob Timmermann | May 27, 2013 5:07 PM

LACMA's James Turrell retrospective will likely be very popular. If you ever have the patience to wait out the crowds to see most of it.

James Turrell sky room on South La Brea

Kevin Roderick | May 26, 2013 11:05 PM

The Kayne Griffin Corcoran gallery on South La Brea opened with an inaugural exhibition of work by artist James Turrell, including e Skyspace room where visitors sit in reclining chairs and observe subtle light and color changes from a dome in the ceiling.

Driving into downtown

J. Michael Walker | May 26, 2013 3:56 PM

Visiting blogger: An artist has a pleasant surprise of an encounter at The Last Bookstore on 5th Street.

Lee Melville, founding editor of LA Stage Times, dies at 74

Kevin Roderick | May 23, 2013 8:55 PM

"Melville was the most extraordinary advocate Los Angeles theater has known," says the CEO of LA Stage Alliance.

When The Doors played LA high schools and clubs

Kevin Roderick | May 20, 2013 11:55 PM

If you lived in Los Angeles in the 1960s and were inclined toward rock and roll, you might have seen Ray Manzarek and The Doors play at Sunset Strip clubs, at Ports O'Call in San Pedro — or at your high school. Memories are flowing on social media.

Ray Manzarek, co-founder of The Doors was 74 *

Kevin Roderick | May 20, 2013 4:42 PM

Ray Manzarek, the Doors keyboardist, died at a clinic in Germany. Manzarek had cancer of the bile ducts. Sunset Strip clubs dimmed the lights Monday night in his honor. Video and photos inside.

Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre fund new music academy at USC

Kevin Roderick | May 14, 2013 10:55 PM

They are donating $70 million for USC to create a new academy for students "who challenge conventional views of art and industry." The unveiling will officially be tomorrow at Interscope Geffen A&M Records in Santa Monica, but USC put out the release tonight.

History of the Eagles released on disc (video)

Kevin Roderick | April 30, 2013 12:59 PM

The Eagles, started in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, grew out of the Linda Ronstadt, David Geffen, Troubadour club association that wrote several chapters of the future history of the music business. Capitol Record is releasing the "History of the Eagles" documentary that aired earlier this year on Showtime. Trailer inside.

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Ukulele tribute to Dave Brubeck

Just listen. It works. Watch bigger

Drive-by studio

LA photographer Johnny Tergo shoots his street scenes with a camera rigged to the passenger seat of his Chevy Silverado. More

Ghostly Dutchman

LA Opera puts on a "Flying Dutchman" without irrelevant whimsy, silly symbolism or egotistical re-writing. Donna Perlmutter

New LA ballet company

Choreographer and dancer Melissa Barak has big plans for Los Angeles. Read more

Joffrey's 'Rite of Spring'

The Joffrey Ballet's most famous reconstruction, "Rite of Spring," opened here in 1987. Donna Perlmutter gives her report on the return engagement, plus her observations of Midori, Meredith Monk and Helmuth Rilling. Native Intelligence

The Snake Can

It's been hard to ignore the baggage that comes with aging, writes Iris Schneider at Native Intelligence. Good thing that "The Snake Can" is more about the friendships, loyalties, yearnings and fears that accompany us on life's journey. Story

Sneaky nudes

Photographer Ernie Holzman snuck his model, Carly, into landmarks such as Union Station (and what looks to be Snug Harbor, above) for a series he calls "L.A. Backstory." Part of his own backstory is that the pictures help him fight his cancer. More at Los Angeles Magazine.

How the media missed Jenni Rivera