Lauryn Hill- Everything is Everything
This song is from Lauryn Hill’s 1999 debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It was also the first commercial appearance of John Legend, who played piano on the song and was still in his late teens at the time (info via Wiki).
Hill is playing at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Thursday 11/5/15.
Kendrick Lamar- Alright
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (11/5-11/8/15)-
Thursday
Artist Glenn Ligon is speaking for free at MOCA Grand Ave about work in their permanent collection, including his own recently acquired Untitled (America, America)
LACMA is screening the feature film Station to Station, about Doug Aitken’s 24 day project of the same name. For this project a train traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific making stops along the way where a “constantly changing group of artists, musicians, and performers took part in a series of unique happenings”. The screening is followed by a conversation between the film’s director, Doug Aitken, and Film Independent curator, Elvis Mitchell with an opening performance by Sun Araw. $25 general admission tickets available here
For CraftNight: Handmade & Foraged, L.A. Papermaking at the Craft & Folk Art Museum you can sample edible creations using foraged ingredients from “food revolutionaries” Josey Baker, Mia Wasilevich, and Pascal Baudar. Afterwards dye pulp with local plants and materials under the guidance of Hiromi Paper International to create handmade paper samples- $8 includes food, drink and supplies. RSVP here
Eleanor Friedberger (of The Fiery Furnaces) is playing El Cid with Fay
Reptar are playing Club Bahia with Holiday Mountain, Breathers and Green Gerry
Thursday-Sunday
Only in Hollywood Music + Arts Festival has a HUGE list of events going on throughout the weekend, most of them free. One of the opening night parties is at Festival Hub Space 15 Twenty and there are multiple art gallery pop-ups, live music and comedy as well. Also make sure to get a button for $1 that gets you great discounts including 2 for 1 drinks at Aventine, $3 off any purchase over $5 at Amoeba Records, free truffle fries with your burger at Umami, percentages off purchases at many local businesses, and more.
Friday
Sleepless: The Music Center After Hours has an impressive amount of late night activities (beginning at 11:30pm and running until 3am), including Daniel Lanois performing a “breakthrough ambient/electro visual experience” on the penthouse floor, DJ sets on the 2nd and 3rd floors, a dance party, a music and scent experience curated by The Institute of Art and Olfaction, on site screen printing and lots more- try your luck on standby line to get in for free or pay $20 to skip the regular line and get a pillowcase to screenprint
So Many Wizards are playing a free show at Taix
Beat Connection are at The Echo with Psychic Twin
Beach Party are playing a free show downtown at One Santa Fe
Friday and Saturday
The Hammer Museum is having ENGAGE MORE NOW!, a free international conference on the subject of public
engagement. “The symposium will convene a group of experts to consider ongoing practices initiated by artists and museum professionals—both within and outside of institutions—that are designed to engage the public in discursive projects that may take the form of social practice, performance, or artistic intervention.”
Saturday
Top Acid in Santa Ana is throwing the free Way Too Fun Fest with 4 music stages and bands including The Lovely Bad Things, So Many Wizards, Gap Dream and more
Saturday and Sunday
To start your Christmas shopping early there’s The Jackalope Art & Craft Fair, which returns to Old Pasadena with over 200 local artisans who were hand selected by jury members. Free with free art workshops as well.
Sunday
Kendrick Lamar is part of 92.3′s The Real Show at The Forum along with Future, Rae Sremmurd, Jeremih, Rich Homie Quan, Ty Dolla $ign and Jidenna. Tickets are only resale but there are plenty of those as of this writing ( $76+)
At LACMA author Nina Ansary and artist Shirin Neshat discuss women in Iran in general, as well as Neshat and her work followed by a booksigning for Ansary’s book Jewels of Allah (free)
Wax Idols are playing at Complex LA in Glendale
Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth) is playing a solo acoustic show at The Echo
Vulkano- Choir of Wolves
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/29-11/1/15)-
One quick note before the list- check out my Halloween and Día de Los Muertos post for what there is to do around town for those holidays
Thursday
The Night Gallery downtown is screening Zara Hayes film about painter Derek Boshier “What Do Artists Do All Day?” followed by a Q&A with her, Boshier, and Christoper Finch
Mexican artist Astrid Hadad’s cabaret performances begin at REDCAT (through Sunday 11/1)
Israeli photographer Adi Nes is speaking at Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Bergamot station
Dr. Piotr Naskrecki, nature photographer and entomologist, is speaking at the Annenberg Space for Photography (free)
Friday
Swedish band Vulkano are opening for British band Cheatahs at The Echo
Machine Project is teaming up with CAFAM for a night of pumpkin carving and “some exciting and ghastly chemistry experiments“, $20 includes the pumpkin
Ska orchestra Western Standard Time are playing a free show at One Santa Fe downtown
A Club Called Rhonda is having a pre-Halloween event called Death Becomes Her at the Globe Theater downtown with a lot of indie-electro DJ fun ($35 pre-sale/$50 at the door)
Lot 1 Cafe is hosting “A Nightmare Before Halloween”, a free show with Dante Elephante headlining
Friday through Sunday
Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo is back at the LA Convention Center. Stan Lee, Carrie Fisher, Elvira, William Shatner and more will be in attendance
Saturday (not too many non-Halloween events- for Halloween go here)
Hard Day of the Dead EDM festival begins- Deadmau5 is headlining Saturday with Hot Chip, Future, Flying Lotus, Nero and more; on Sunday Skrillex headlines with A$AP Ferg, Glass Animals and Groove Armada among the many other performers
Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine are playing along with Fartbarf and others at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach (also Friday)
Melvins are headlining a show at The Echo
Sunday
Johnson Hartig, founder of the clothes label Libertine, is in conversation with famous clothes designer Bob Mackie at LACMA for Hartig’s book Libertine: The Creative Beauty, Humor, and Inspiration Behind the Cult Label (free)
Artist Molly Barnes is speaking at Rosamund Felsen Gallery downtown
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Flea Market is back at the Regent Theater ($2- or free if you eat next door at Prufrock Pizzeria)
Kristen Hersh is in conversation with LA Weekly’s Andy Hermann at Book Soup for her book Don’t Suck Don’t Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt and playing later at The Echo
Slothrust- 7:30 AM
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/22-10/25/15)-
Thursday
Slothrust is opening for Heartless Bastards at the Fonda Theatre
LACMA is hosting Digital Memory and Memorials, a talk with artists Gabriel Barcia-Colombo, Joseph DeLappe and scholar Marita Sturken (free but standby only)
YACHT are performing at the Teragram Ballroom
John Fleck: Blacktop Highway begins at REDCAT– a one man show with horror themes, just in time for Halloween (running through Sunday)
Friday
Brooklyn band Small Black is playing at the Roxy with Painted Palms
You can watch Guardians of the Galaxy and get some fresh ocean air at the Santa Monica Pier (free)
Candis Cayne is hosting Le Bal: A One Night Only Drag Extravaganza at the Ace Hotel
Saturday
Día de Los Muertos at Hollywood Forever claims to be the biggest in the country. This year Lila Downs is headlining, and there will be dance performances, art shows and altars as well as food and drink all around the cemetery to celebrate ($20)
Grand Ave Arts All Access has several events going on from 10am-5pm including a working orchestra rehearsal of LA Opera’s production of the new opera Moby-Dick, architectural tours of the Broad Museum, free entrance to MOCA and more
If you are downtown you can also attend the free Sixth Street Bridge Farewell Festival and Concert with performances by War, Aloe Blacc, and others and a fireworks show at the end to say goodbye to the iconic bridge that will soon be demolished
Dimond Saints are playing at the El Rey Theatre
Hammer Museum is having Hammer Bash to celebrate the opening of two new exhibitions of work by Frances Stark and Lawren Harris. DJs, drinks and food from 8-10 (free)
Saturday and Sunday
The Observatory in Santa Ana is hosting the awesome 2-day event Beach Goth 4– bands include The Growlers, Grimes, Die Antwoord, Juicy J, The Drums, FIDLAR, DIIV, Cherry Glazerr, Warpaint, and many, many, more ($100 for both days)
Luna are playing at the Teregram Ballroom with Quilt. For Sunday’s show the band will be the performing album Penthouse in its entirety
Sunday
LACMA is having a special screening of Claes Oldenburg’s Possibly a Special on the Bag which goes behind the making of his famous giant ice bag (free)
Artist Frances Stark will be at Hammer Museum to discuss “the political subtext and artistry” of the film Casa de mi Padre starring Will Ferrell. He will be there along with the director, writer and producer “for a post-screening conversation about the distinctly unfunny
consequences of America’s appetite for drugs, including drug-related violence in Mexico”(free)
The Ramones- Pet Sematary
This song was written for the film adaptation of the Stephen King book of the same name and appears on the Ramones 1989 album Brain Drain.
Cinefamily on Fairfax is showing Pet Sematary as a double feature with The Oracle on Friday 10/23/15.
Also, if you are at Hollywood Forever for their Dia de los Muertos celebration on Saturday make sure to check out Johnny Ramone’s grave located near the mausoleum.
Run The Jewels feat. Zack de la Rocha- Close Your Eyes and Count to F**k
Director A.G. Rojas’ statement about the video via Revolt.tv–
When Run The Jewels sent me this track, I knew we had the opportunity to create a film that means something. I felt a sense of responsibility to do just that. We had to exploit the lyrics and aggression and emotion of the track, and translate that into a film that would ignite a valuable and productive conversation about racially motivated violence in this country. It’s provocative, and we all knew this, so we were tasked with making something that expressed the intensity of senseless violence without eclipsing our humanity. For me, it was important to write a story that didn’t paint a simplistic portrait of the characters of the Cop and Kid. They’re not stereotypes. They’re people – complex, real people and, as such, the power had to shift between them at certain points throughout the story. The film begins and it feels like they have been fighting for days, they’re exhausted, not a single punch is thrown, their violence is communicated through clumsy, raw emotion. They’ve already fought their way past their judgments and learned hatred toward one another. Our goal was to highlight the futility of the violence, not celebrate it.
I am really proud of where we ended up, and I am very thankful that our actors Shea Whigham and Keith Stanfield committed to these characters 100%. They breathed complex life into two people who are usually portrayed in simplistic ways—as archetypes. I can tell you it was an emotional shoot day. It is tough to re-create moments that are so fresh and prevalent in our world today. It affected all of us in deep ways. But I believe that it is important that the way we feel when we see these events in real life has an effect on us. That we resonate with what we know to be right and we don’t numb ourselves out so those feelings can simply be swept away, we must confront them and take some action, however small, or we’ll be stuck in the same cycle of violence and hate.
And from the Youtube description-
For El-P of Run the Jewels “this is a vision of a seemingly never-ending struggle whose participants are pitted against each other by forces originating outside of themselves.” Adds partner Killer Mike “this video represents the futile and exhausting existence of a purgatory-like law enforcement system. There is no neat solution at the end because there is no neat solution in the real world.
Run the Jewels are playing in Pomona tonight 10/16/15
Run The Jewels- Banana Clipper (feat. Big Boi)
Killer Mike and El-P’s collaboration, Run The Jewels, is having a good year. They played Coachella this past April and are now on tour around the country. There are tickets available for their show at the Fox Theater in Pomona on Friday 10/16/15, which is the closest they are coming to Los Angeles for awhile.
The song above is off their first self titled album from 2013 and has Big Boi of Outkast, providing guest vocals. Killer Mike was featured on Outkast’s 2001 song The Whole World. Currently their second album, Run The Jewels 2, is on their website as a free download. You can also download a free version of that album remixed by Just Blaze, Zola Jesus, Dan the Automator and more, with cat sounds added, called Meow the Jewels, created after a very popular Kickstarter campaign.
The War on Drugs- Red Eyes
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/15-10/18/15)-
Thursday
The Flux Screening Series returns to the Hammer with short films, music videos, filmmaker presentations and a DJ after party
Yacht is performing a free set at Amoeba Records and signing their new record
Kickstarter Film Festival is on the east side in Los Feliz (free with RSVP)
Alt-J is at the Hollywood Bowl with Best Coast and San Fermin
Friday
The War on Drugs are playing The Greek Theatre with Christopher Owens (of Girls) opening
LACMA is showing the film Metropolis with live musical accompaniment ($10)
Odd Nights, the Autry’s free monthly market/music/food/drink event is on
Lianne La Havas is performing at the Fonda Theatre
Fartbarf are playing El Cid at midnight
Friday and Saturday
Florence and the Machine are at the Hollywood Bowl
Saturday
A benefit for 826LA at Echo Park Travel Mart– Life Into Art Into Art: Memoirs Adapted for Television and Film With Susan Orlean, Jerry Stahl, Stephen Elliott, and Evan Wright- has the authors discussing the adaptations of their memoirs ($15)
LA Times arts writer Suzanne Muchnic talks with KCRW art critic and journalist Hunter Drohojowska-Philp about her new book LACMA So Far (free)
Saturday and Sunday
The Beverly Hills Art Show is a nice way to spend the day walking around Beverly Gardens Park (free)
37 artists are participating in Santa Monica Art Studios open studios event (free)
The Festival for All Skid Row Artists is a two-day festival of performing and visual art and music from Skid Row residents (free from 1-5)
Sunday
LA Commons is having Found LA which offers several free neighborhood walks all around Los Angeles. Many are sold out but there tickets for a few left like a photo walk in DTLA and historic Hollywood area tour
Artist Doug Aitken is in conversation with novelist Steve Erickson at the Family Bookstore for Aitken’s new book of sculptures
Ciclavia is back and in downtown LA