The esteemed Mr. Jello will be bringing his roving band of merry men to the El Rey this Sunday for what’s sure to be a lighthearted and flippant, politically apathetic hoedown. With his band entitled the Guantanamo School of Medicine and supported by MIA (not M.I.A.) and Triclops, Biafra is a don’t-miss if you want a good party on a Sunday night. Yeehaw!

Wanna go? Tell me your pet political cause or whatever gets you riled up, in the comments below. We’ll pick a few lucky winners to go enjoy the show.

I read what I considered to be merely a rumor last night, that film composer Ennio Morricone’s Hollywood Bowl show this coming Sunday, October 25th had been cancelled or postponed. Today, multiple sources, including the Bowl’s site, confirm that there will be no performance and it has not been rescheduled.

According to the L.A. Times blog, “the concert was supposed to include excerpts from his scores to the movies The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in America, The Mission, Once Upon a Time in the West,  A Fistful of Dollars, and others.” The Cinema Paradiso score to be incredible and worth the price of admission alone. I’m bummed to be missing out on seeing a conductor lead an orchestra playing his or her original piece, which is always amazing.

It’s unknown why the show is not going on. Refunds are available, according to the Hollywood Bowl, “at point of purchase.” Of course, if you go to Ticketmaster, you learn that they are not obligated to return your money, so we are currently in limbo. Luckily, we bought cheap seats for this one.

Updated 10/23/09: We received an email from Ticketmaster. They will refund the base ticket price and service charges. However, they will keep the $4+ processing fee. Bastards.

LA Weekly had a cheeky article a few years back titled “The Evidence Room: Five Signs You’re Gentrifying.” At the time, the primary target of gentrification was Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Echo Park.  I don’t think there’s a gelato parlor downtown yet, but clearly, for better or worse, downtown is being “revitalized” faster than you can say “doggie day care.”  Enter Gary Phillips, a community activist turned mystery and comic book writer who will debut the first three pages of his webcomic, Bicycle Cop Dave, next week on October 28 on Four Story.  Bicycle Cop Dave will follow LAPD officer David Richter as he patrols downtown LA and “encounters interesting characters from a lawyer smoking crack in a port-a-potty to a one-armed prophet in a Skid Row bar with his wooden tablet of odd commandments.”  Phillips also promises upside down bodies below the Sixth Street bridge, an inevitable Big Bad Developer villain, and at least a comment or two about the displacement of the poor as result of old gentrifying politics finding a new battleground downtown.  The story will unfold over the course of several weeks, as new pages will be published every other Wednesday until the entire comic is online.  I’m hoping he’ll stray away from hyper liberal tendencies to simply demonize gentrification without providing a more weighty critique; in any case, the comic is worth a bookmark and hopefully some good discussion.

If you are familiar with either of the characters listed in the above title then you know this is one of the coolest things to ever happen in history. Yes, Mister Jalopy is going to be opening up his top secret workshop in hopes of benefiting Machine Project. As Machine Project is a non-profit community organization, 90% of your ticket price (which ranges from $75-$250 depending on what you are hoping to get hooked up with) is tax deductible. I rarely post about fund raisers but having seen this elusive workshop, and knowing the folks behind this I’d say even at $250 it’s a steal, and you are helping support a year full of bad ass programming at MP. I might buy two tickets, just so I could have an excuse to go, leave, put on a fake mustache and then go back again!

Edit (12:09am Friday Oct.30): Guys! For the love of Pete, please stop posting! I gave the tix out a week ago now! -Lucinda.

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Ok people, the time has come. That thing we promised you, teased you about, a good long while ago. Yes.

It is time for Phish’s “Festival 8.”

Somehow, you have to prove to me that you deserve to go to this show (which has everything from coffee & donuts with the band to Halloween-themed movies to a farmer’s market).  How will you prove that?

It’s up to you.

Leave anything you want in the comments: links to pictures or blogs, your own stories (in under 150 words, please), anything–anything that might possibly convince me to relent and give you these tickets.  Because Phish may be groovy and all love-your-neighbor-dude, but today you must beat that neighbor to a pulp in order to secure these golden tickets for yourself…you hippy.

[Full disclosure, I'm one of the authors of this book] Holy crap this book is amazing!!!

If you follow me on twitter then you’ve heard me ranting about this already, but Hi Hollywood has just been released and I have to say it’s a must read for anyone who works in the movie industry, does not work in the movie industry, enjoys watching movies, has seen a movie or has not seen a movie but is seriously considering it. While at face value this book is a collection of proposed movie treatments, if you peel back a few layers you find it has a much bigger purpose, and a much loftier goal. From the publishers description:

This book is about the magic of movies. About reaching to a higher standard. About daring to dream. About making movies awesome again. We dare you to read any one of the potential oscar winners presented here in rough treatment format and say that they wouldn’t be awesome movies. We fucking dare you.

It starts off with ‘Brunch of the Dead’ a radically new approach to the zombie genre, and movies quickly into ‘Disaster’ a film I’m sure every person who has ever enjoyed an on screen explosion would kill to see. Things get romantical with ‘Garbage Dude’ and ’80 Foot Hamster’ is a story about cold blooded revenge that even the most kind hearted hippy could relate to. And that is just the beginning, I could go on and on, but that would just take time away that could be spent reading it on your own. And since it’s a free downloadable ebook you really have no reason not to. So what are you waiting for?

(UPDATE 10.22): I just have to drop this in at the top how deeply touched I am by the outpouring of kind words and appreciation. I’m still amazed that things played out as they did — and so successfully. As some of you know I fancy myself something of an amateur one-man Random Animal Assistance League (be it at my house, near downtown or in the wilds of South Los Angeles), but never in my craziest dreams did I think it would include such a scenario. Each and every one of you who took the time to comment blew me away and made my day, so from the bottom of my heart: Thank You!

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The first grown-up book I ever read cover to cover was “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” which is about gulls as much as another cherished book of mine, “Watership Down” is about rabbits, but when you’re a snot-nosed 9-year-old kid still moving his lips as he reads Richard Bach’s anthropomorphic allegory was just what a wide-eyed punk needed to ever-romanticize the sea birds. Even to this day as a wide-eyed old dude whenever I see a flock of the feathered fiends I’ll pick one out to be my own personal JLS.

Well one picked me out yesterday while I stopped on my bike ride to work along Ballona Creek at Centinela to feed some old bread destined for the dumpster to the birds there. Except it had a big problem in the form of a nasty three-pronged fishhook embedded in its mouth, which prevented it from enjoing the tasty bread bits, closing its beak… or perhaps even living for much longer:

I go into deathless elaboration on the ensuing rescue mission here, accompanied by some long unedited video clips that I’ve embedded after the jump. But if you’re in need of a little bit of a happyendingness or just want to hear a grown man weep, check ‘em out.

Read the rest of this entry →

LA Times has unveiled their new  eEdition, “a reproduction of the print edition– online” for $12.99 per month.  Considering that I just got a year of 7-day home delivery of the actual print edition for $75, or $6.25 per month, and they are offering print subscribers the online subscription at no extra cost, I’m wondering what the strategery is here.

Access to its archives is one thing LAT is offering as part of the deal, and they are also touting that it’s available at 5:30 AM everyday, unlike the online edition, which is available the preceding midnight, contains much more news and, um, it’s free– for now.

I guess this is a first step (and trial balloon) for the online paid subscription model we’ve been hearing about from other newpapers in dire straits– which means the vast majority of them.

As a side note, PBS.org is streaming Inventing LA, the recent doc about the Chandlers and the LA Times. Worth a look.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only person who ever has noticed the large ‘Jesus Saves’ sign downtown. When I point it out, people often ask me how long it’s been there. I shrug. I have no idea. Seems like forever to me. It stands out to my eye, but I guess to others it’s just more sight pollution; one more ad, one more neon sign.

Today, while walking down Broadway, I saw it from a different angle. The sun hitting the sign was too perfect not to capture. (It looked better in real life, trust me.)

'Jesus Saves' from Broadway

As I walked on south, I turn around to shoot more photos of my beloved Eastern building. Imagine my surprise as I noticed the shadow of the sign on the adjacent building.

'Jesus Saves' shadow

I am not a Christian, so this is more luck of the time of day for me. But for the lady at the bus stop who saw it when I pointed it out to my husband, it seemed to mean a lot to her; like she needed it.

As the holiday season approaches and your calendar begins to overflow with festive party invites, we at Metblogs urge you to act responsibly, especially when it comes to alcohol consumption.

Our motto is: If you’re going to be making a merry mess of yourself all over town, please do us all a favor and go home with a stranger.

OK, maybe that’s not an official Metblogs motto, but it should be. The thing is, there are many alternatives to drinking and driving. You can take the Metro, call a taxi, hire a limo, appoint a designated driver, call a sober friend, call Alcoholics Anonymous. Still, with all of these options, so many of us will choose to get behind the wheel of our own car and drive home after a night of boozing. I am not proud to admit how many times I have done this in the past.

According to Y Drive, “The main reason people drink and drive is that they don’t want to leave their cars behind.”

Y Drive's Magic Folding Scooter

That’s why Y Drive came up with an innovative and affordable service that eliminates this factor altogether. When you call Y Drive, a professional driver will come to you on a folding scooter. For a flat fee of $38, the Read the rest of this entry →

The thinking man’s (and woman’s) muse/hottie, Hope Sandoval, comes to the Mayan this Thursday with her band the Warm Inventions. I’m happy to see her own name out front–it’s often seemed like she was obscured to some extent, in the past, by the various other people who played with her or surrounded her. I saw Mazzy Star at the Palace (when it was still the Palace, not the Avalon) when I was in high school, maybe 1995?–and the show blew me away. I expect this performance to be similarly lush, powerful and lovely.

To win, leave a comment telling me about the most beautiful concert you ever attended. We’ll pick a random winner or to to go see the show. Info is here.

My theory is that, like Halloween, one is either a fan of David Lynch‘s films or not.  I am.  Recently, I watched Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” for the second time, and the first time since moving to the Los Angeles area.  It was quite eye-opening.

As for the film itself, I understood more the second time around.  “Mulholland Drive” simply cannot be viewed only once (unless you are in the category of unfortunate people who don’t like David Lynch films, in which case once is probably too much).  But then I did some research, and found out some really interesting things.  Since I rented and do not own the dvd, I did not know that Lynch inserted ten clues to watching the movie inside the back cover of the dvd box.
  Get a clue, after the jump

The WTF?! Festival, hosted by The Actors’ Gang and curated by Tim Robbins, began last week in an ambitious eruption of creative insurrection.  It’s a ten week multi-discipline performance art festival featuring music, dance, film, theater and more all bent toward the singular cause of putting forth artistic material during an unsavory economic climate.  (Thus the title of the festival which was literally Tim’s reaction to being told there wasn’t enough money in the budget to do theater.)

Each week of the WTF?! Festival offers a wide range of activities from free events to $150 fundraising productions.  Because there is so much going on with this mighty undertaking, I will be doing regular updates here at LA Metblogs to keep you on top of everything, including an interview with Tim Robbins.

Here’s what’s happening on this week!

Tuesday night begins Week 2 with an exclusive look at the as yet unreleased documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe. It’s the story of the civil rights lawyer who fought for equality with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed Chicago 8 activists as told by his daughters.  The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Emily Kunstler.  It begins at 8 pm and is free!

Wednesday night is a screening of The Aristocrats after which filmmaker Paul Provenza and special guests will discuss the film, not to mention offer up new Aristocrat jokes live.  Just $15 puts you in a seat for a rare evening of tawdry entertainment.  The bar opens at 7 pm. The show begins at 8 pm.

Thursday night is an evening of theater with the one woman production called The Need To Know performed by former Air Force Intelligence Analyst April Fitzsimmons. It’s a critically acclaimed performance exploring her journey from being a member of the armed forces to an activist in the peace movement.  The show is followed by a veterans’ forum.  The curtain goes up at 8 pm and tickets are $15.

Former Cirque du Soleil performer Daisuke Tsuji executes his one man visual poem Death And Giggles on Friday evening with a frenetic presentation of sock puppets, dance, clowning and balloons.  It begins at 9 pm and is $15.

Week 2 ends on Saturday with an intimate evening of music presented by 89.9 KRCW featuring singer/songwriter Jackson Browne with his son, Ryan Browne.  Tim Robbins and his son, Miles, will also put in an appearance.  This is a $150 fundraising event that begins at 8:30 pm.

For more information about the WTF?! Festival visit the website here.  Otherwise, keep a look out here at LA Metblogs for upcoming events.

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD. Seriously, I am slobbering stoked about this. Say what you want about recent Death Cab: Gibbard’s early work with the band, like in “We Have the Facts And We’re Voting Yes,” and his collaborations with Dntel (The Postal Service came about as a result of their first correspondence, the song “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan”) is just fantastic. And Jay Farrar, the other half of Uncle Tupelo (the seminal alt-country outfit that split to form both Wilco and Farrar’s Son Volt) is a great songwriter.

But even I am flabbergasted at what Farrar’s attempted: setting the words of Kerouac to music. The album “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur,” primarily composed by Farrar with collaboration from Gibbard, sounds like the perfect storm of awesome. Apparently the two musicians realized their mutual love for the writer of “On the Road,” while they were involved in the production of a documentary of the same name about Kerouac (which screens tomorrow at Arclight with a Q&A with the director & producers; the film includes reflections on Kerouac by Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Sam Shepard, and more).

The duo is bringing their makeshift band, which is composed of other Death Cab, Son Volt, and Mountain Goats members, here to LA for two of the 6 US dates they’ll be playing. They’ll be at Largo at the Coronet this week on the 22nd, and the El Rey on the 23rd. I am SO there.

Congratulations, you just saved yourself a sawbuck!

Now, for you nitpickers out there, watch the above 2012 trailer again and try to make geographic sense of the sequence of events.

Oh, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news for believers in the Mayan apocalypse, but the ever-so-useful “No-Frills” calendar from MyBoatClub stretches all the way into 2020.

Congratulations again, you just gained eight more years of life!