Jan 232025
 

Blitzen Trapper- Planetarium

Every month I listen to the majority of bands/singers/musicians/artists who are playing in Los Angeles and select some for a monthly playlist. It includes a variety of genres and usually newer work by the artist.

The song above is from Blitzen Trapper’s 2024 album, 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions.

Below are December’s selections-

Nov 302017
 

The High Curbs- Empty Bottles

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (11/30-12/3/17)-

Thursday

Writer Raquel Gutiérrez will be giving a walk through and discussing certain works from Hammer Museum’s exhibition Radical Women. Later in the evening there is a film screening of various experimental films created by Latin American women artists (both events free)

FYOHNA is opening for Wildling at Resident

CAFAM is hosting CraftNight at Angel City Brewery where you can have a pint while enjoying an air-dry clay workshop ($10)

Summer Moon and Mereki are opening for Dhani Harrison at the El Rey Theatre

Prism Tats is opening for Dommengang at The Hi Hat

Downtown Boys are playing with Generacion Suicida and Ex-Stains at the Echoplex

iam8bit gallery is having its 3rd Annual Handmade Holiday Show

Friday

Metro Art is showing Ava DuVernay’s documentary This is the Life at Union Station (free)

Slothrust are playing at The Echo with And The Kids and SLUGS

Hundred Waters are playing at the El Rey Theatre with Julianna Barwick and Banoffee

Blitzen Trapper are playing at the Bootleg Theater with Lilly Hiatt

Saturday

DocuSlate, a day dedicated to documentary films presented by NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFLMA) is $10 per program or for $25 you can see all the programs and enjoy an open bar

Hauser & Wirth is having a Holiday Market (also Sunday)

Union Station is also having a Holiday Market with live entertainment, a beer garden and Santa

The Dandy Warhols are playing with POW! at the Teragram Ballroom

HUNNY’s Winter Talent Show at the Echoplex includes bands Potty Mouth and King Shelter

Sunday

The High Curbs are opening for Hockey Dad at the Bootleg Theater with Jurassic Shark

Artist Alec Soth will be in conversation with photographic historian Kate Albers at Arcana with a book signing to follow

LAXART will be screening States of Crisis at the City of West Hollywood Library- a video program that includes videos by artists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Peru reflecting on political, economic and ecological crises. This program is in conjunction with the exhibition Pacific Standard Time LA/LA: Video Art in Latin America at LAXART. (free)

John Waters performs A John Waters Christmas, his one man show, at The Comedy Store

Oct 202016
 

The Moth & The Flame- Young & Unafraid

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/20-10/23/16)-

Thursday

The Moth & The Flame are playing at the Troubadour with Young Rising Sons

MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson is giving a walk through of the exhibition R. H. Quaytman, Morning: Chapter 30 at MOCA Grand Avenue (free and free museum admission)

The Faint are playing at The Mayan with Gang of Four

Art critic Douglas Crimp will be discussing and reading from Before Pictures, his autobiographical account of life as a young gay man in New York from the late 1960s through the 1970s, at the Hammer Museum (free)

Tkay Maidza is performing at the Bootleg Theater

Fever Charm and LAYNE are opening for Night Lights at Resident

Friday

Art Night Pasadena is a great way to check out Pasadena’s museums and cultural centers for free as well as live music and performances. Free shuttles are provided for getting around.

Front Porch Cinema at the Santa Monica Pier is showing Labyrinth starring David Bowie (free)

Lemaitre are playing at the El Rey Theatre with Chet Porter and Coucheron

LACMA is showing Guillermo del Toro’s 1993 vampire film Cronos

The Molochs are playing at Non Plus Ultra with the Paranoyds and Numb.er

Saturday

For Los Angeles–based artist Dan Levenson’s performance at Hammer Museum he will be leading a three-hour class that will consist of a lecture, drawing exercises, and critiques following the curriculum of the SKZ (State Art Academy Zurich), a Swiss modernist art school of his own invention. (free)

LACMA is screening two iconic experimental films of the 1960s: Walter De Maria’s Hardcore and Michael Snow’s Wavelength for their Desert/Ocean program, followed by a conversation between Jane McFadden and James Nisbet, two of the leading scholars of De Maria’s artwork, and moderated by Jennifer King, LACMA’s associate curator of contemporary projects.  (free)

The New Beverly is showing a horror double feature of Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Paul Wendkos’ The Mephisto Waltz starring Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset ($9.27 for both)

Saturday and Sunday

The Brewery Art Walk is a fun way to check out up and coming artists in their studios in the massive complex downtown

Beach Goth, a two day music festival taking place at The Observatory Grounds in Santa Ana, has a ton of great bands playing with single day and two day tickets still available. The Growlers are hosting with Eric Andre and bands include Bon Iver, Future Islands, Ru Paul’s Drag Race contestants, The Faint, Patti Smith, Violent Femmes, TLC, Grimes, Gucci Mane, The Drums,  The Pharcyde, Moving Units, TSOL, and many more.

Sunday

Vidiots is presenting Harry Dean Stanton with the first ever “Harry Dean Stanton Award” at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel. The evening will include conversations, film clips, and music, featuring performances and tributes from Kris Kristofferson, Father John Misty, Karen O, Inara George, John C. Reilly, Jack Huston, Harper Simon, and many more.

LACMA is hosting a book signing, film screening and discussion with noted Iranian painter, book illustrator, animator, and sculptor, Ali Akbar Sadeghi. (free)

Blitzen Trapper are playing at the Bootleg Theater

 

***If you are curious about Neal Unger, the older skateboarder in the above video, this video provides a bit more information on him and his philosophy. He only started skateboarding recently!

Aug 042016
 

Dilated Peoples- Show Me The Way ft. Aloe Blacc

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (8/4-8/7/16)-

Thursday

Dilated Peoples and The Visionaries are playing The Official 2Mex Benefit Show at The Regent Theater

Tickets are still available for the Iris Nights Lecture Series at the Annenberg Space for Photography with Heather McClintock and Colin Finlay (free)

Artist Wu Tsang will be discussing filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl for MOCA’s Artists on Artists series (free)

The Theatre at the Ace Hotel is screening Toro y Moi: Live From Trona with a Q &A afterwards and an after party with a Toro y Moi DJ set

Natalia Lafourcade is playing a free show at the Santa Monica Pier with Monsieur Periné

For The Broad’s film series Doll Parts, there will be a screening of Paul McCarthy’s Cultural Soup and David Schmoeller’s Tourist Trap ($12 ticket also includes entrance to the Cindy Sherman exhibition)

Mother Feather are playing a free show at the Bootleg Theater

Thursday- Saturday

It’s the final weekend of the New Original Works Festival 2016 at REDCAT

Friday

For its 50th anniversary, Ford Theatres will be screening Tiempo de Morir, based on Gabriel García Márquez’s short story, which was adapted by Carlos Fuentes and Márquez for film.  Film director Rodrigo García, Márquez’s son, will be discussing it with the co-founder of Libros Schmibros, David Kipen. before the screening. ($18)

Brew at the L.A. Zoo combines live music, DJ’s, and craft beer with pop up keeper talks and “close up animal encounters” ($65 includes beer samples)

HAELOS are playing at the Teragram Ballroom with Golden Daze

Saturday

Blitzen Trapper are playing opening for Kansas as part of Pershing Square’s free concert series

Theater director Peter Sellars will be in conversation with Gronk at CAFAM

Proud + Outfest Movie Night in Grand Park is a free outdoor movie (Moulin Rouge!) and live music event

Tijuana Panthers are playing at the Teragram Ballroom with The Buttertones

Details are still limited but so far Audacity and No Age will be among the bands playing Save The Smell Fest, an event to raise money for the venue. Tickets are $25 but the location is still unknown (although it will probably be downtown)

Sunday

Sufjan Stevens is playing along with Kurt Vile and the Violators and Ibeyi at the Hollywood Bowl

DTLA Proud Festival has performances, parties, a pop-up water park and more to celebrate the revitalization of DTLA and the growing LGBT community ($10)

The Rock ‘N ‘Roll Flea Market returns to the Regent Theater (free)

Nov 122015
 

Cass McCombs- Dreams-Come-True Girl (featuring Karen Black)

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (11/12-11/115)-

Thursday

Cass McCombs is the band in Cinefamily’s The Band & A Movie series. The movie he chose is Dusty and Sweets McGee– a “stark quasi-documentary look at the Los Angeles drug scene by featuring real-life junkies playing themselves” with short film Sean preceding it. ($20)

Artist Jennifer Pastor is speaking at the Hammer Museum (free)

LACMA is hosting Selfies, Sousveillance, and Participatory Countersurveillance a conversation with artists Hasan Elahi and Annina Rüst (free with reserved ticket)

The School for the Movement of the Technicolor People curator Robert Crouch and artists Ashley Hunt, taisha paggett and Kim Zumpfe will be in conversation at LACE in Hollywood focusing on the current installation and the artists’ collaborative process.

Downtown Art Walk is back and this time it’s featuring work from the Los Angeles Plein Air Festival

Tamaryn is at The Echo with LA bands Froth and Roses ($10)

Gardens & Villa are playing at The Roxy ($18)

Friday

DIEM: TALKS DESIGN is a “one-day design symposium presented by the West Hollywood Design District with discussions, panels and keynotes from leaders in the fields of design, decorative arts, fashion, architecture and fine arts” and it’s all free with RSVP

Andra Day is performing for  Club Vinyl at Amoeba Records and there will be a half off sale on all vinyl releases from artists headlining 30 Days in LA

Yo La Tengo are reuniting with former member Dave Schramm for an acoustic show at the Ace Hotel 

William H. Macy, Baron Vaughn, Chicano Batman, Matt Walsh,and Brian Huskey will all be a part of NPR’s Bullseye with Jesse Thorn event at the Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge

Blitzen Trapper are playing at the Teregram Ballroom

The last of One Santa Fe’s free concert series has electro-pop artist Kauf performing

Here We Go Magic are playing at the Bootleg Theater ($14)

Saturday

Squeeze Acoustic – “The At Odds Couple” ~ An Evening with Difford & Tilbrook is at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre

Family Books is having a book signing with photographer Ryan McGinley for his new book Way Far

Depending on your feelings about crowds and Christmas celebrations you may want to check out or avoid The Grove Christmas. Seth McFarlane will be singing holiday songs along with special guests Meghan Trainor and Katharine McPhee with a 70 pieces orchestra and there will be a tree lighting, fireworks and more.

Artist Ned Evans is speaking at Craig Krull Gallery in Bergamot Station (rsvp by 11/12)

Sunday

Barnsdall Art Center Holiday Art Sale + Fundraiser will be selling prints, ceramics, jewelry, handcrafted cards and photography by students & faculty of the center. Free or a $5 ticket that includes a snack and drink, $5 for raffle tickets

The Charlatans UK are at The Fonda Theatre

The Ace Hotel is hosting the Los Angeles premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new documentary Junun

Paper Pilots are playing at The Echo along with Story of the Running Wolf ($5)

Oct 022014
 

Slow Club- Beginners

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/2-10/5)-

Thursday

Mark Mothersbaugh is speaking at MOCA Grand Avenue with Adam Lerner, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. He will be discussing his art and music before DEVO through his present day work, which includes being a composer for film and television (he most recently did the original score for The LEGO Movie). He will also be signing his new book Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia. Admission is free to this event and to the museum where Andy Warhol’s Shadows is currently on display- http://edu.moca.org/calendar/2014-10-02

LACMA is screening Aberdeen, the newest film from Hong Kong director Ho-cheung Pang (free)- http://www.lacma.org/event/aberdeen

Friday

Bombay Bicycle Club are playing The Wiltern with Milo Greene- http://www.thewiltern.net/events/bombay-bicycle-club-milo-greene/

Blitzen Trapper are at The Troubadour- http://www.troubadour.com/event/648763-blitzen-trapper-los-angeles/

LA Live is doing Dark Nights again- $5 food and drink specials at several restaurants, $5 parking and free entertainment (musicians and artists) from 5-9pm- http://www.lalive.com/events/la-live/detail/dark-nights-at-la-live-1

Baauer, Boyz Noise and Spank Rock are at Club Nokia- http://www.clubnokia.com/events/detail/252893

DJ Shadow with Cut Chemist at the Hollywood Palladium- http://www.thehollywoodpalladium.com/events/dj-shadow-the-renegades-of-rhythm-tour/#.VCzZIedfnU4

Saturday

It’s the last of MOCA’s Step and Repeat nights- this one features Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Neil Hamburger, Heather Lawless, and more- http://mocastepandrepeat.tumblr.com/

Slow Club are at The Echo with Roses- http://www.theecho.com/event/605789-slow-club-los-angeles/

Barnsdall Art Park is having outdoor movie nights on the lawn of the Hollyhock House.  This week it’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School starring The Ramones. It’s $10 for the movie, $25 if you want to add 3 drinks (beer and wine)- http://www.barnsdall.org/event/barnsdall-movie-nights-2014-10-04/

Glass Animals are playing a free show at Origami Vinyl at 1pm before their sold out show at the Troubadour- http://origamimusic.blogspot.com/

Stromae at The Fonda- http://www.fondatheatre.com/events/detail/250601

Sunday

The Drums are at the Mayan Theater for their new album Encyclopedia- http://www.ticketmaster.com/The-Drums-tickets/artist/1364866?tm_link=edp_Artist_Name

Dr. Christine Mullen Kreamer, curator of African Cosmos: Stellar Arts, is giving a lecture on “the historical legacy of African cultural astronomy and its intersection with both traditional and contemporary African arts”- http://www.lacma.org/event/talk-african-cosmos

Ciclavia is back this Sunday creating car free streets from Echo Park to Downtown to East LA- http://www.ciclavia.org/events/687/heart-of-la/924/about