Two documentaries examining immigrant experiences, both here in the US as well as in the originating countries for each subject, played last night at the DocuWeeks film festival at the Arclight Hollywood. And if you take for granted how you got here, each of these films are stark reminders of the challenges faced somewhere along the way by the people of a nation primarily descended from immigrants (let alone the problems we collectively created for Native Americans.)

Ingelore is the story of Ingelore Herz Honigstein, a deaf Jewish woman born in Germany in 1924. She comes to grips with her disability over the next 14 years as the Third Reich rises up around her, practically unnoticed by a girl who already has far too much to accommodate and overcome.

Director Frank Stiefel‘s moving film about his mother, who was present at the screening, is propelled by her own words describing her experiences at the hands of embarrassed parents, ostracizing classmates, plundering Nazis and uncaring US Consulate officials. As she tells her story of overcoming her limitations and escaping Germany for the US, I got a sense she still marvels at her own survival. Read the rest of this entry →

This week is your last chance to see a five-city touring exhibit of  25 young emerging artists fresh out of (and some still attending) art school.

The Kids Are Alright, curated by Beau Basse, owner of LeBasse Projects in Culver City, is on view at Black Maria Gallery in Atwater Village until Saturday, August 8th.

Then the exhibit departs for its two final stops at the Tell Gallery in Toronto and the London Miles Gallery in London. (Prior to Los Angeles, it was in Philadelphia and San Diego.)

Artists participating are from Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and London and come from some of the top art schools in the world including Otis (LA,) Art Center (Pasadena,) Sheridan Institute, RISD and Parsons.

For the Black Maria exhibit, artists were asked to work exclusively in black and white — and, of course, a couple artists rebelled and dipped into a color here and there. Hey, rules were made to be broken, you know?

I’ve been writing about Black Maria for years and it looks like the LA Times has finally gotten on board too, recently calling the gallery “hot” and suggesting it’s “a great chance to discover the next big things while they’re still affordable.”

Told you so.

Black Maria Gallery, 3137 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039

Image: Andrew Holder “Untitled-birds” – ink, acrylic & graphite; 12″ x 16″ – 2009

Shilah Morrow’s “Sin City Social Club” nights of outlaw and alt. country, roots rock and, at times, genre-busting forays into glam, cabaret and beyond, were ongoing musts for a devoted collective of fans and musicians either based in or passing through Los Angeles.

For five years of monthly events at Molly Malone’s bar on Fairfax, then branching out to include weekly Friday nights at the Mint on Pico, Morrow provided for her tribe who regularly reconnected at these events, bonded by their love for the music.

A few years ago, Morrow, an Angeleno by birth, pulled up roots and moved to Austin, expanding Sin City’s reach to that liberal Texas outpost and Nashville. She still books nights in Los Angeles, popping into town occasionally to check in and catch up with those of us who miss her terribly.

Tonight, Sin City sets up shop (though, alas, Morrow will be in Austin for another event) at Downtown’s Redwood Bar & Grill, where they will present Memphis soul singer Susan Marshall (with loads of special guests, like Greg Dulli of the Afghan Wigs,) Dead Rock West (above,) Dave Gleason and 50 Cent Haircut.

Located on 2nd St. and Hill, right next door to the Civic Center Red Line Metro stop (good to know, as street parking can be difficult), the Redwood Bar has a history to lend as backdrop. Once the Redwood Saloon, over the years it hosted the likes of JFK, Richard Nixon and local journalists, gangsters and those they attracted before its renovation/reinvention three years ago.

The food has been revamped too, with a decent-seeming menu that includes burgers and other sandwiches, mac & cheese, salads, fries and the like.

Admission tonight is $7. Music starts at 9 PM.

Redwood Bar, 316 W. 2nd St. Los Angeles 90012

Patti Smith sprang forth in that rush of NYC bands in the mid-’70s that included the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television and Blondie. All regular performers at CBGB in Manhattan’s Bowery, they were the cultural descendants of the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, the MC5 and Warhol, living in a broken city with a thriving underground art scene that is still relevant today. (See how long you can go while sifting through current culture without coming upon a direct reference to Andy. Go ahead, try it.)

And Lucky You has two opportunities one opportunity, in what remains of summer, to bask in the presence of what remains of that era’s royalty, namely one Ms. Smith, in Santa Monica, starting this weekend. The first one costs $30; the second is free.

On Saturday, August 1st, Santa Monica Museum of Art will be the setting for An Evening with Patti Smith, featuring an improvisational performance by PS and clips from Steve Sebring’s 2008 documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life. (7 PM; $30, Sold out, but the doc is now on DVD.)

Then, on Thursday, September 3rd, Patti Smith and her Band will perform at the closing night of the Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series, a two-month program of free concerts that began in early July. (7 PM; free)

Maybe some of you were lucky enough to be at her season closer show at the pier  two years ago (I was) and need another shot (I do.)

As deadlines for filing, gathering signatures and fund raising loom, gay rights groups are still debating the timing of a ballot initiative to overturn anti-same-sex marriage Proposition 8, which passed last November with 52% of the vote.

The two dates in question are the November elections in 2010 and 2012. Those pushing for holding off until 2012 cite flat poll numbers favoring same-sex marriage since last year’s election, linking them to the difficulties it would create for raising the enormous amount of money necessary to undertake another ballot initiative drive. The Prop 8 campaign cost more than $80 million, with those opposing it spending $43 million.

Two weeks I posted about three gay rights groups in California that joined together, with the endorsement of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in DC, to release a statement calling a 2010 initiative “rushed and risky.” Called “Prepare to Prevail,” its approach calls for a lengthy grass roots movement that engages minority communities that overall supported Prop 8; and waiting for statewide poll numbers to show a 60% approval rating for same-sex marriage before an initiative appears on the ballot. Read the rest of this entry →

Anderson Cooper ventured into a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles recently and brought along a camera crew to capture him ogling the goods for sale. It was one segment of a circumspect, comprehensive (for MSM, anyway) report about the movement to legalize the weed that I watched last night on his CNN news program, Anderson Cooper 360. By turns balanced and illuminating, it examined perceived pros and cons to consider in the march to legalization.

Cooper was drolly amusing as he perused the LA pot store, pausing to consider the different pot-laced goodies– brownies, cakes, sodas, biscotti, gelato (!) and of course, the dried weed itself. At one point, he paused to open a jar and took a whiff. “Smells like marijuana,” he said dryly, his blue eyes twinkling. Read the rest of this entry →

Local theater has a hard enough time drawing audiences here. Apathetic critics don’t help.

Something that Marc Haefele mentioned in his most recent post on Metblogs has stayed with me since I read it:  his opening sentence wherein he mentions overhearing  “the arts editor of a prominent local weekly… say she didn’t like opera and didn’t know anyone who did.”

Having been to my share of LA Opera performances, some that I have enjoyed more than others, I was shocked to hear of a supposed cultural gatekeeper in the guise of an arts editor coming forth with a blanket disdain for a particular, um, art. Perhaps she needs to broaden her circle of friends and get out more–  or at least find another area of journalism to work in.

I got the same feeling today when I read a theater review in the LA Times by Charlotte Stoudt. Granted, it was a review of Octomom, The Musical, playing at the Fake Gallery on Melrose and Heliotrope. But her opening sentence may have tipped her hand about her feelings towards live theater, along with her qualifications to review it:

“It was only a matter of time before the exploits of Nadya Suleman trickled down to that most lowly of entertainment forms, live theater.”

It left me wondering where on her hierarchy of “entertainment forms” she places, say, WWF or TMZ, which she mentions being well aware of in her review. Something tells me she also is not an opera buff.

And for all we know, you could take her upfront dismissal of theater overall as a ringing endorsement of Octomom.

Another beloved celebrity gone.

The cruel summer of death marches on, this time claiming a beloved star of the small screen. Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, died from a stroke on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. She was 15 (105 in dog years.)

“She made so many people happy,” said Gidget’s trainer, Sue Chipperton.

According to People Magazine:

The mostly retired actor lived out her days laying in the sun – “I like to joke that it’s like looking after a plant,” says Chipperton – and entertaining at shoots when her trainer brought her along. “Gidget,” says Chipperton, “always knew where the camera was.”

"I’m a blogosphere virgin. I don’t read blogs. Blogs feel like they’re a dime a bushel. They’re endless. Like cockroaches..."

Out, gay-as-a-picnic-basket, proud, loud, blog-challenged and, by all accounts, liberal director Todd Holland inadvertently got sucked on to the Hollywood Liberal Shit List last week. However, the move looks to be temporary in light of his good-natured and at times bitchy response, in addition to being nominated this year for a directing Emmy for 30 Rock, the sitcom starring über-liberals Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey. His placement on the HLSL was further complicated by the fact that he got legally married to his partner last year before Proposition 8 was passed.

How it happened: At a panel discussion about gay Hollywood, Holland answered a question about whether he would advise gay actors in Hollywood to come out. Leave it to some nasty bloggers to take his response and “twist or warp” his words into anti-gay remarks.

The panel discussion took place at Outfest, the Los Angeles gay film festival held each July at The Directors Guild (a.k.a. Hollywood Liberal World Headquarters.)

So now the LA Times, LA Weekly and those spiteful, overly-sensitive gay blogs manned by (to use Holland’s word) “cockroaches” are tripping over themselves as he trips over himself to clarify and over-explain what he really meant or really meant to say– or more likely wishes he hadn’t said at all in the first place.

A condensed version of what played out… Read the rest of this entry →

2010 seen as “rushed and risky.”

Should marriage equality supporters push for a ballot initiative in next year’s November election that would repeal Proposition 8? Not according to three gay advocacy groups in California that jointly released a statement urging a delay until 2012.

The statement, “Prepare to Prevail,” was released this week by the Jordan/Rustin Coalition, an African American LGBT advocacy group; API Equality-LA, an Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT advocacy group; and HONOR PAC, which advocates for empowering Latina/o LGBTs.

The groups implore supporters of same-sex marriage “to forego a rush to the 2010 ballot box to repeal Proposition 8″ and “start now in building the campaign infrastructure and robust public education efforts needed to win back marriage equality.”

Going back to the ballot to remove the voter-imposed ban on same-sex marriage from the state constitution in 2010 would be rushed and risky. We should proceed with a costly, demanding, and high-stakes electoral campaign of this sort only when we are confident we can win.

Popular support for marriage equality for same-sex couples has not changed since the last election. Today, California voters’ opinions on a constitutional amendment to overturn the voter-imposed elimination of marriage equality remain evenly split, according to all recent polls.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, based in Washington, DC,  has signed on to the statement by the California groups:

Build solid majority support for the freedom to marry before returning to the ballot.  Multiple polls have shown that support for marriage equality has remained flat since November 2008. The LGBT community will be in a stronger position to win if we’re defending, and not attempting to create in the midst of a campaign, majority support at the ballot box for the freedom to marry.

But what about the competition?

A friend of mine on a recent visit to Los Angeles was surprised to see so many medical marijuana dispensaries as I chauffeured her around the city to see the sights. I explained to her the ease of getting documentation from a doctor to purchase pot legally. Living in Pennsylvania, where even buying alcohol is severely restricted compared to CA, needless to say she was amazed. But maybe PA could learn something from CA.

Yesterday, CA’s Board of Equalization said the state could see as much as a $1.4 billion per year increase in revenue, thanks to a bill introduced in the Assembly that would further legalize marijuana and impose on buyers a $50 per ounce tax, in addition to sales tax. With CA in dire financial condition, the tax is seen as  a much needed revenue generator.

Fun facts: Federal authorities consider CA to be the top pot-producing state in the country and say the 8.6 million pounds grown here make it one of our largest agricultural crops.

But a $50 tax on an ounce of pot if CA legalizes it? Won’t this spur buying it outside of legally sanctioned outlets, say via Mexican drug cartels, to avoid the tax? Would it affect prices of illegal pot or lead to competitive pricing?

It’s now accepted that in California, same-sex marriage will again be on the ballot in the November 2010 election. This time advocates for marriage equality, stung by the passage of Proposition 8 last year which outlawed same-sex marriage in the state, will be prepared to counter anti-gay distortions thanks to the work of people like Pam Spaulding and her blog, Pam’s House Blend.

Today she has a post about the religious right’s attempts to twist facts, lie about studies and just make stuff up about LGBTs in an attempt to scare voters into not supporting marriage equality for everyone. And she must have struck a nerve, because someone from an anti-gay group, Focus on the Family, responded to her in an email, which she quotes and answers.

It’s going to be a tough campaign, but Pam’s early primer is a good way to gird yourself for the campaign.

According to Pam, this is the first of six distortions used by the anti-gay crowd:

1. Using nonrepresentative or out-of-date studies to make generalizations, or distorting legitimate studies to give misleading conclusions

Example 1 – Religious right talking point: According to the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women, 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sexual partners. Therefore gays have no concept of mongamy and certainly can’t be trusted to raise children.

Truth - Homosexualities was a book written in 1978 that only looked a certain portion of the lgbt population (gay men in the city of San Francisco). It also did not look at same-sex households. In addition, the authors of Homosexualities (Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg) said that their book should not be used to generalize about all gays in general.

And here are the the first four of 17 lies she identifies:

1. Homosexuality is a lifestyle more harmful than cigarette smoking.

2. Gay men have a short life span.

3. The gay and lesbian community have a high rate of domestic violence.

4. Unhealthy behaviors (i.e. substance abuse, promiscuous sexual behavior) is indicative of the gay or lesbian orientation.

[UPDATE:] As a result of this post, I had a spirited conversation with Sophie Jefferies from the press office at LA Phil that touched on new technology’s impact  and the challenges it presents in a public setting; as well as the attending etiquette and social participation insofar as attending outdoor concerts at the Bowl is concerned. She had a quibble with me using the word “prohibited” when the Bowl site says cell phones “may not be operated.”

We both agreed that consideration for others is essential in the uncharted territory we find ourselves in as technology advances. “For some people, their cell phones are a part of enjoying a performance, especially for younger crowds. It doesn’t seem to happen at classical concerts.”

She made some good points about different types of music drawing different crowds with different expectations; said the language on the site about cell phones and pagers needed to be updated (“People don’t really use pagers anymore, do they?”); seemed to think the provisions on the back of the ticket more accurately explained the venue rules (They’re actually stricter and threaten expulsion.); and told me that at the Incubus concert the next night you were the exception if you weren’t using a cell phone in some way during the performance.

One more thing– the other acts on the bill on Sunday evening were Blitzer Trappen and the super charming and totally amazing Jenny Lewis.

From the Hollywood Bowl site:

Turn off any pagers, watch signals, or other electronic devices. Note: Cellular telephones, pagers, cameras, laser pointing devices and recording devices may not be operated in the theater.

For me and probably others, cell phone use at Hollywood Bowl is ruining performances and up to this point nothing is being done about it. I went to the Ray LaMontagne/LA Phil  show on Sunday (LA Phil produces most of the summer concerts) and people were using their cell phones for texting and video recording so much it was impossible to enjoy the show.

At the beginning of the performance Anne Litt from KCRW, a co-producer of many Bowl shows, made an announcement asking people “to secure their open bottles and electronic devices” but she did NOT say that using cell phones is PROHIBITED at the Bowl, cell phones “may not be operated” as it states on their web site.

Six of the eight people in the row directly in front of me (in section K2) were texting, snapping  photos, recording video and talking on their phones DURING THE PERFORMANCES and I could see it happening throughout the audience in front of me. I did not see any usher telling people to stop. Read the rest of this entry →

At first I thought I had found ways around car-choked areas in Los Angeles by finally learning alternate routes. Wrong. As it turns out, rising unemployment coupled with businesses closing  has led to an easing in traffic congestion, according to a new study by the Texas Transportation Institute.

Don’t get too happy about this. The study also notes the Los Angeles area still has the suckiest traffic in the nation. But if you continue to apply the when-life-hands-you-lemons-make-lemonade logic, that means we’re still number one!

It appears Los Angeles tea baggers will have to contain their overtaxed ire this weekend. Their planned participation in the nationwide (according to Fox News anyway) “tea party” tax revolt demonstration could not secure a permit from the city for the event.

Emails to three representatives on their site went unanswered as of this evening. I’ll update this post if I hear from them.

From their Facebook page:

Sorry, Folks. After much difficulty it appears we will not get a permit for the event. Because of the late date now we are unable to find another suitable location for July 4th.

Atlanta organizers also had to cancel their July 4th event planned at a shopping mall parking lot due to the mall’s owner not wishing to host a political event.

UPDATE: According to the Washington Independent (via HuffPo), overall this time around for the anti-tax demonstrators it’s  a bust. But the July 4th Dallas teabaggers event “will combine political speeches from columnist Michelle Malkin, Bosnia war hero Scott O’Grady, and local conservative activists with entertainment from ersatz Monkees drummer and singer Mickey Dolenz, a bluegrass Beatles cover band, and a program that lets kids edit themselves into rock videos (‘Be a star — no talent required!’)” Still no word from the Los Angeles crew.