Music
Crawling Down Cahuenga: Tom Waits' L.A. tour
This is the definitive tour of Tom Waits' formative creative life in Los Angeles, and the people, places and late night pastries that shaped it.
Calling all rain dogs, gin-soaked boys and Gun Street girls! Climb aboard as your hosts David Smay (author of the new 33 1/3 series book on "Swordfishtrombones") and Esotouric's Kim Cooper (a Zoetrope Studios intern who'll tell how she used teenage subterfuge to arrange a private concert by Tom) lead you on a scrupulously researched ride through Tom's epic misdeeds and shenanigans, from the Trashing of the Troubadour to epic nights at the Tropicana.
And oh, there are such tales to tell, from food fights with L.A. Punks and smackdowns with L.A. Police. We'll crawl through the Sewers of Paris, tattle on the Ivar Theater, and get the lowdown on Tom's legendary performances at the Wiltern and elsewhere. Before departing for points rural, Tom left his mark all over L.A., from Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios to Sunset Sound to Skid Row. We'll show you where Tom found his true love and collaborator, Kathleen Brennan, and how all the pieces came together to transform a drunken, desperate singer into the multi-faceted, multi-media artist he'd become.
Raised near San Diego, Tom Waits launched his musical career in L.A., signing with David Geffen's Asylum Records in 1972, living at the raunchy Tropicana Hotel (where he sawed off the kitchen drain board so his piano would fit), and building a reputation as a songwriter willing to risk his own health and sanity to get inside the sad sack characters that peopled songs like "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)," "On The Nickel" and "Pasties And A G-string (At The Two O'clock Club)."
By 1980, Tom was 31 and starting to feel the effects of his hard living. While scoring the music to Francis Ford Coppola's "One From The Heart," he met Kathleen Brennan, whose influence would completely transform his life and his art. After a whirlwind courtship the pair married and began a 28-year creative and personal partnership, beginning with the revolutionary album "Swordfishtrombones," the subject of tour host David Smay's new book.
Marking the symbolic passage from lonesome bar hopping to family joys and sobriety, the tour begins at an important downtown site. Passengers gather in the King Edward Saloon, the last surviving Skid Row bar with the Christmas 2007 loss of Craby Joe's, before boarding Esotouric's luxury coach class bus, where the mood is set with vintage photos and live footage.
"Crawling Down Cahuenga" spans Tom's personal city, from The Nickel (aka Skid Row) to once-ratty West Hollywood, favorite strip clubs and midnight diners, recording studios, night clubs, record labels and film studios, before rolling back downtown for a last tipple at the King Edward Saloon.
ABOUT THE HOSTS: Longtime collaborators David Smay and Kim Cooper co-edited the books "Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth" ("quite simply the most fun music book I have ever read." -Bucketfull of Brains) and "Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed" ("the perfect book for the advanced record collector" -Ear Candy) before penning their solo 33 1/3 series books on Tom Waits and Neutral Milk Hotel. Kim gives Esotouric's rock history and true crime tours. David Smay lives in San Francisco, where he is working on a history of the Beats.
Dulcet singers wanted for Krampus Choir Rehearsal
Where the Action Was rock history tour
Announcing a very special edition of Where The Action Was, co-sponsored by Esotouric and 100.3 The Sound, and featuring special guest pop star Ian Whitcomb and on-air personalities from 100.3 and a reception at Capitol Records.
Where the Action Was is Esotouric's Hollywood and West Hollywood rock and roll history tour, co-hosted by pop music historians Kim Cooper and Gene Sculatti.
In the mid-1960s, the Sunset Strip and Hollywood were ground zero for musical teen youth culture, with scores of great clubs, music shops, recording studios, boutiques, hipster hangouts, radio stations, record stores, and film and TV studios. On the Esotouric bus, you'll travel back in time to map the musical history of Hollywood and West Hollywood, from Beatlemania and folk rock, glitter rock through punk. Along the way you'll follow the career highs and lows of a selection of fascinating LA artists: Bobby Fuller (was it murder or suicide?), Phil Spector, Arthur Lee & Love and the Byrds.
From the teen riots over the closing of Pandora's Box (inspiration for the Buffalo Springfield hit "For What It's Worth") to the late night Canter's Deli scene, from adolescent groupies holding court at Rodney's English Disco to the wild dances invented at Ciro's, and so much between, Where The Action Was is a high-energy voyage to a time when music was thrilling, immediate and deeply rooted to the city of LA.
Passenger feedback: "Just wanted to say how much I thoroughly enjoyed the recent "Where the Action Was" rock tour. Wow! The perfect blend of history and pastiche. Amazing that you can pull this off so smoothly in such a difficult city to traverse. I have been living and walking the streets of the tour area for the past six years and never realized half of the history behind all of those great venues I passed. You truly enlightened me in such an insightful, fun manner. I will be sure to recommend your fantastic tours to everyone I know." (Matthew Turner, Writer/Producer of THE JUKEBOX: FROM EDISON TO IPOD)
Inquiry Towards the Practice of Secular Magic
Los Angeles Filmforum and the Disembodied Theater Corporation
at: piXel (+) freQuency 931 E Pico Blvd. STE 202. Los Angeles, CA 90021
Friday, Aug. 26th and Sat., Aug. 27th. 9:00 p.m. sharp starttime. door 8:30
arrive early for seating / floor space.* $10.00.
Secular magic is the alchemical act of transmuting everyday life into fiction, and vice versa. The traveling, continually evolving Inquiry examines actions both State-sanctioned and autonomous, and includes live cinema performances, archival documents, films, artworks, and artifacts. EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVE: strange objects, questionable events, and unknown histories in a bewildering tapestry of transfigured reality!
* - THIS IS A BYOS event: Bring Your Own Seating! There are some chairs and sofas, but not enough. Plenty of floor space, so small folding chairs, cushions and blankets encouraged. Floor is hard so bring something comfortable.
The proceedings include:
Ross Lipman's THE BOOK OF PARADISE HAS NO AUTHOR, a live documentary on the Cave People of the Philippines
Marcy Saude’s illustrated lecture on George Van Tassel, inventor of the Integratron
Stephen Berkman’s authentic contemporary Ambrotypes
Luke's embryonic brains as nightmare
Liz Goetz's "astronomically correct" cut-out star quilt
Anjali Sundaram's reseach on the legendary Daughter of Kong
Nina Hoechtl’s video installation on the Emperor and Empress of Mexico, Maximilian and Carlota,
and their strange relationship to the comedian Cantinflas
Inna-Marie Strazhnik’s medical illustrations and astounding prosthetic eye
and live music and sounds by Eric Potter
Inquiry Towards the Practice of Secular Magic
Los Angeles Filmforum and the Disembodied Theater Corporation
at: piXel (+) freQuency 931 E Pico Blvd. STE 202. Los Angeles, CA 90021
Friday, Aug. 26th and Sat., Aug. 27th. 9:00 p.m. sharp starttime. door 8:30
arrive early for seating / floor space.* $10.00.
Secular magic is the alchemical act of transmuting everyday life into fiction, and vice versa. The traveling, continually evolving Inquiry examines actions both State-sanctioned and autonomous, and includes live cinema performances, archival documents, films, artworks, and artifacts. EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVE: strange objects, questionable events, and unknown histories in a bewildering tapestry of transfigured reality!
* - THIS IS A BYOS event: Bring Your Own Seating! There are some chairs and sofas, but not enough. Plenty of floor space, so small folding chairs, cushions and blankets encouraged. Floor is hard so bring something comfortable.
The proceedings include:
Ross Lipman's THE BOOK OF PARADISE HAS NO AUTHOR, a live documentary on the Cave People of the Philippines
Marcy Saude’s illustrated lecture on George Van Tassel, inventor of the Integratron
Stephen Berkman’s authentic contemporary Ambrotypes
Luke's embryonic brains as nightmare
Liz Goetz's "astronomically correct" cut-out star quilt
Anjali Sundaram's reseach on the legendary Daughter of Kong
Nina Hoechtl’s video installation on the Emperor and Empress of Mexico, Maximilian and Carlota,
and their strange relationship to the comedian Cantinflas
Inna-Marie Strazhnik’s medical illustrations and astounding prosthetic eye
and live music and sounds by Eric Potter
TwentyWonder fundraiser- A Carnival of the Mind!
LAVA Visionary A. Laura Brody's been invited to live drape at the TwentyWonder fundraiser for DSA Los Angeles!
It's got a Derby Doll grudge match, Exene Cervenka, Ed Asner does Seuss, the Poubelles, folk from Circque Berzerk, the League of Steam, the original Batmobile and so much more. (I'm awed by the company I'm keeping.)
And I'll be draping in the lot and in the Derby Mall, in the midst of the League and the Circque and crazed karaoke. So if you'll be around the Doll Factory on Saturday, July 9th, please come on down. 8 PM 'til midnight (early goers welcome from 6-8 PM) at 1910 W. Temple St. in historic Filipino Town, Los Angeles 90026. It's a great cause and a good time.
The Ukulady at Maybe... A Musical Variety Show Where We Ask Big Questions...
The Ukulady joins fellow LA Visionary, Eric Vollmer, of Public Works Improvisation Theatre, as well as performers Larry Hankin, Gary Gordon, Lee Boek, DJ Carlile, Doug Spitz and Kaitlin Ferrell for an evening of stories, music & Big Questions about the Cosmos! At a delicious Polish eatery, Warszawa! Join us and meep!
Experiential Painting with Eva Montealegre
Reception, Saturday, May 14, 6 - 10 pm
at 216 The Promenade, Long Beach
Opening night in conjunction with the Long Beach Art Walk
Participating Artists: Armineh Teimourian, Sally-Anne Swift, Patricia Ferber, Roy Anthony Shabla, Randal Reel, David Oldrieve, William Emboden, William Haugse, Eva Montealegre, Lark, Sel Sarkin and Susanne Swanson-Bernard.
8:00 pm Live Music by SangomaBeat - Enjoy African Fusion Jazz with vocalist Pashyo Sarkin.
Experiential Painting by Eva Montealegre: Eva will begin with a near-naked canvas with only its “under-painting” and create an experiential painting. This is the recipe she uses for all her paintings. Eva’s organic spiritual connection is always present as a through-line in her ingenious artistic expression.
Springing from the foundation of the artist’s personal experience there is a harmonious community with the Medicine Dance Members which will continue to take root. To this already potent recipe we will be adding the spice of the lively sounds of Sangomabeat. In this multi-dimensional creative environment Eva will paint. The combination of artist, paint, canvas & the alchemical potion of audience, dancers & musicians is a venue for connoisseurs of artistic ambience.
Please come with an open heart & mind with no pre-conception but merely the willingness to discover what this might mean. If the flavor of the creative dish is right, audience members will be invited to participate in the movement. Don’t miss it!
Samba Society at Trópico de Nopal gallery / art space
Samba Society returns to Trópico de Nopal for our first outdoor samba event of the year. Bring your dancing feet and get up close to the "roda" - the intimate circular formation of samba played in its most traditional format - for a set of samba, batuque, partido alto, and samba de terreiro.
Ten musicians strong, Samba Society brings its own brand of vintage "roots" samba reminiscent of classic recordings from the 1970s. The group features the iconic instrumentation of the 7-string guitar and cavaco, along with full vocal harmonies and swinging percussion.
Lets celebrate the rites of spring with good Samba and deep roots music...
REYES spinning Samba, Samba Enredo, Partido Alto, Pagode & Bossa between sets!
food . caipirinhas . cold beer . vino
brasilian videos . outdoor patio . great people
$10
THE LINEUP:
Beto González / vocals / percussion
Simon Carroll / percussion / drums
Bobby Easton / percussion
Mitchell Long / cavaco / guitar
Keith Lungwitz / percussion
Dana Maman / percussion
Mauro Monteiro / vocals
Kana Shimanuki / vocals
Emina Shimanuki / vocals
Colin Walker / 7-string guitar
The Ukulady MC's Venice SpringFling Musicfest!
Come out to Venice Beach for the 1st annual Spring Fling Music Festival with your MC, The Ukulady! Dozens of bands, artists, and friends! All for free! Hippie-it-up and celebrate Spring with The Ukulady & the Venice Spring Fling!
WHEN: Saturday, May 7th, 11am - 7pm
WHERE: Windward Plaza Park, Venice Beach, CA 902191
INFO: www.VeniceSpringFling.com
To The Downfall of Evil!
Love The Ukulady
