Oct 192017
 

Mitski- Townie

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/19-10/22/17)-

Thursday

Art historian Elena Shtromberg will be discussing the work of artist Anna Maria Maiolino at MOCA Grand Avenue (free)

Screaming Females are playing at the Bootleg Theater with Street Eaters and Hit Bargain

LACMA is hosting a free screening of 11/8/16, a documentary made up of 16 stories from 16 different filmmakers all taking place in America

Warbly Jets are having an album release party at Moroccan Lounge with The Entire Universe opening

Nick Hakim is playing at the Echoplex with Sam Evian and Jimmy Whispers opening

Sego are at The Echo with Goldensuns and Oddnesse opening

Friday

The Lemon Twigs are playing at the Teragram Ballroom with Cut Worms and Fatal Jamz (also Saturday)

The Pancakes and Booze Art Show returns to Los Angeles with art from over 100 artists, performances, and of course pancakes and booze (also Saturday)

Front Porch Cinema’s free movie at Santa Monica Pier this week is the live action Beauty and the Beast

Angel Olsen is opening for Arcade Fire at The Forum

Cloak & Dagger Festival runs tonight and tomorrow til 2am at the Globe Theatre and The Palace Theatre. Tonight the lineup includes The Jesus and Mary Chain, TR/ST, Mykki Blanco, HEALTH and more

Saturday

The Brewery Artwalk is back for its Autumn edition- a great chance to check out the artists in the large complex and get some food and drink while there (also running on Sunday)

Hauser and Wirth is having a public opening for Mike Kelley: Kandors 1999-2011, with food, drink and music by Moon Uterus

Curls (with Christopher Owens of Girls) are playing with Sure Sure at Moroccan Lounge

Allah-Las are playing at The Regent Theatre with Entrance and Mapache opening

Pop-Up Magazine at The Theatre at Ace Hotel brings a magazine to life with “film, photography, film, radio, and original music all mixed together and performed live onstage”- for this iteration presenters include LeVar Burton and TV writer Cord Jefferson

Moses Sumney is playing at the El Rey Theatre with Sudan Archives

Crystal Castles are playing at The Wiltern

Sunday

Mitski is playing with Palehound opening at the Fonda Theatre

The Beverly Hills Art Show is back for its two day outdoor show with over 245 artists (also Saturday)

The A.G. Geiger Art Book Fair is taking place in Chinatown and is focused on art books, zines and music created by people on the West Coast (free)

Santa Monica Art Studios is having its annual open studios event (opening night is Saturday 6-9pm)

Eyelids are playing with Two Sheds and The Broken Hearts at The Echo

 

Sep 212017
 

Amber Mark- Lose My Cool

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (9/21-9/24/17)-

Thursday

Amber Mark and Kacy Hill are the opening acts for the Glass Animals show at The Shrine

For Hauser & Wirth’s free outdoor double feature film screening this week, artist Paul McCarthy has chosen The Pawnbroker and Mudhoney

The Venice Art Crawl returns with galleries open late and free performances

Friday

Hammer Museum is having a free music night- ¡Pa’rriba! (Get Up!)- with performances by Lido Pimienta, Sister Mantos, and Chulita Vinyl Club

TokiMonsta is playing at The Wiltern

Steady Holiday and Jimmy Whispers are opening for Dent May at the Bootleg Theater

Psychic TV are playing at the Echoplex with LA Drones

This Will Destroy You are playing at Pico Union Project

Saturday

Outfest Fusion is hosting Proud Movie Night in Grand Park with a showcase of short films, DJ sets, and a Q&A with filmmakers before the films

There will be a reading of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea in the North Gallery of Hauser & Wirth, chosen by artist Paul McCarthy to follow his exhibition (free but register)

The Hi Hat and Play Like A Girl are having a free panel discussion- Pitch Perfect: Navigating The World of Press and Publicity– with a group of women journalists and publicists from the music industry

Kasabian are playing at The Wiltern with Slaves opening

So Many Wizards, Melted and Pinky Pinky are playing a benefit downtown for Non Plus Ultra

Sunday

MOCA Grand Ave is hosting roundtable discussion “addressing the omission of women from the dominant art historical narrative, both on a local and global scale”. Hammer Chief Curator Connie Butler and Los Angeles–based artists Barbara T. Smith and Lita Albuquerque will discuss their work to remedy this as curators, art historians, and artists, with MOCA Chief Curator Helen Molesworth moderating.

In conjunction with the programming for Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, artist Nuno Ramos will be discussing his work, currently on view at Hauser & Wirth, with curator Graham Steele (free but register)

Abbot Kinney Festival returns for its annual event with vendors, rides, live music and more (free)

Generacion Suicida are playing at The Echo with Fantasy Lane and Die Group

Frankie Rose is playing at the Echoplex with Suburban Living and Business of Dreams

Sep 072017
 

Freedom Fry- Shaky Ground

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (9/7-9/10/17)-

Thursday

The Regrettes and The Paranoyds are playing a free show at the Dr. Martins Store in  Studio City- RSVP here

Musician and writer Tim Kasher is screening his debut feature film at the Bootleg Theater with a concert and Q & A to follow

LACMA has a free screening of an episode of One Mississippi and includes a conversation with Tig Notaro, executive producer Kate Robin, and some of the cast

For the third installment of Paul McCarthy’s free outdoor film series at Hauser & Wirth, the films are Heidi and Waterworld

Chance The Rapper’s brother Taylor Bennett is also a rapper and he’s performing at the Echoplex tonight with Melo Makes Music

New Mystics are playing at The Echo with HOTT MT, The Red Pears and Yeses opening

Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers are playing at the El Rey Theatre with Death By Unga Bunga opening

Fruit Bats are playing a solo set with Jed Maheu opening at Resident

Friday

The Ohana Music Fest starts today at Doheny State Beach with Social Distortion, Pixies, TV On The Radio, The Orwells and more- it’s not cheap though- each night is $100+ (continues Saturday with Eddie Vedder headlining  and Sunday with Jack Johnson headlining)

To celebrate the life of Jeanne Moreau, the Aero Theatre is showing a double feature- La Notte and Diary of a Chambermaid (Saturday they are showing Jules and Jim and Bay of Angels)

The Wiltern is showing Easy Rider with a live band providing the soundtrack

Corbin & Shlohmo are playing at The Novo

Kolars are playing at The Echo with Livingmore and Moded opening

 

Saturday

Sunstock Solar Arts & Music Festival returns for its second year with bands Freedom Fry, Robert DeLong, Ra Ra Riot, Fuzzy Crystals, and more

ICA LA (Institute of Contemporary Art) is having it’s Grand Opening Weekend with exhibition tours, talks, performances, workshops and more (free, also on Sunday)

It’s the second day of the Day N Night Fest in Anaheim and tonight Chance The Rapper, SZA, Vic Mensa, Earl Sweatshirt, Lil Uzi Vert, and Playboi Carti are just some of the many performers (Travis Scott headlines Friday)

Pamela M. Lee, Osgood Hooker Professorship in Fine Arts, Stanford University, will be at LACMA to discuss the art scenes in New York and Los Angeles at the time Virginia Dwan operated her galleries in the two cities. The free lecture is in conjunction with LACMAs current exhibition Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959–1971

For the opening of their exhibition at Gavlak Gallery, Los Super Elegantes will be performing a medley of their greatest performances

Lemaitre are playing at the El Rey Theatre with Blackbird Blackbird and STANAJ opening

Sunday

As part of the second day of events for ICA LA’s Grand Opening Weekend, leading scholars of Latin American art and culture Josh Kun, Rubén Gallo, and James Oles will join conservator Harriet Stratis to discuss the life and work of Martín Ramírez (free, register here)

It’s the last night to see The Muppets Take The Bowl and catch the fireworks at The Hollywood Bowl

It’s the last day (and night) of the Day N Night Fest– Kendrick Lamar is performing with a huge list of performers that includes YG, 21 Savage and Princess Nokia

Grand Park is hosting the Beat Swap Meet- a chance to score some vinyl and check out some b-boy and b-girl moves (free)

Aug 242017
 

The Mynabirds- Velveteen

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (8/24-8/27/17)-

Thursday

Tobacco are playing at the Teragram Ballroom

Tonight for the second part of Paul McCarthy’s free film series at Hauser & Wirth to accompany his current exhibition, the gallery is screening Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Whity in the courtyard

Writers Ernest Hardy and Tisa Bryant will be discussing film, television, music, social media, and news in relation to “black representations of depression and distress, remedies and healing, and the resilience of joy in black life and culture” at the Hammer Museum.  (free)

LPX (of MS MR) is playing with Monogem and Tulpa & Blankts at The Echo

Friday

The Mynabirds are playing with Winter and Umm at the Bootleg Theater

Friday Flights returns to the Getty with a performances by -Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle and Tyler Matthew Oyer with live music accompaniment by The Kevin Robinson Ensemble (KREation); visual and sound artist Scott Benzel; and a performance by psych-rock band Psychic Ills (free)

Artbook at Hauser & Wirth is hosting Out of the Hat, a reading series “where various artists, writers, dancers, poets, and theoreticians will share—and be called—to the stage through an old adage of chance: the pulling of names out of a hat”. This weeks lineup is- Evan Burrows, Michael Kennedy Costa, Simone Forti, Michael Ned Holte and Matias Viegener.

Susan is opening for Guantanamo Baywatch at The Echo

For Bored To Death’s ‘Zine Release Party at hm157, Magic Wands, POW!, Future Shoxxx, and Deaf Dance will be performing

Saturday

homeLA returns with its house specific dance performances- this time there are three, taking place at a home in Larchmont

For August’s Summer Happenings at The Broad, bands A Place to Bury Strangers and Xiu Xiu will be playing; performance artist Linda Mary Montano will offer “healings and blessings”; Keijaun Thomas will perform his work, Distance is not Separation; and the third floor galleries will feature “a Xenolalia room – the Christian missionary spirit gift or ability to speak in an unlearned language – with poets Raquel Gutiérrez, Elliot Reed and Lisa Teasley, and musicians Gabie Strong, Pauline Gloss and David Harrow”. ($25 advance / $30 at the door)

For the last of the DJ Nights in Grand Park– The Gaslamp Killer will be joined by DJs Computer Jay and C Minus for a night of rock songs

Saturdays Off the 405, the Getty’s free music night, returns with Savoy Motel

LA Weekly’s Artopia event is taking place at Union Station ($30+)

Art, music and comedy converge for Supertight at the Bootleg Theater with performances by Maria Bamford, Rodrigo Amarante and more

Brian Ferry will be performing with an orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl

Potty Mouth, Colleen Green, Ramonda Hammer, and Pouty are playing at the Teragram Ballroom

Quitapenas are playing a free show at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park

Sunday

No Age is headlining a night of bands including Sun Araw at The Smell

The Independent Shakespeare Company is performing The Two Gentlemen of Verona free in Griffith Park (also Friday and Saturday)

Sammus, Fat Tony, and Amindi K. Fro$t are playing at Junior High

The Tissues, Burning Palms, ExSage and more are playing Clairvoid Fest at the Bootleg Theater

The Prids are playing at the Echoplex with Fotoform, Glaare, and Charm

Aug 032017
 

Hand Habits- Book on How to Change

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (8/3-8/6/17)-

Thursday

Filmmaker Ericka Beckman will be in conversation with visual artist Matt Mullican for The Broad’s The Un-Private Collection conversation series ($12)

The Molochs are opening for Juan Wauters at Resident

Chastity Belt are playing at the Teragram Ballroom with Never Young and Lala Lala opening

The free concert this week at the Santa Monica Pier is Valerie June with Irma Thomas opening

Artists Star Montana and Shizu Saldamando will be in conversation at The Main Museum (free but RSVP)

Loyal Lobos are headlining a show at the Bootleg Theater that includes Aldre’ Williams, Sam Valdez, and The Moderns

Friday

Alex Napping, Hand Habits, and Justus Proffit are playing at the Bootleg Theater

Artbook at Hauser & Wirth is hosting a reading series called Out of the Hat “where various artists writers, dancers, poets, and theoreticians will share—and be called—to the stage through an old adage of chance: the pulling of names out of a hat”. This Friday the participants will be Tosh Berman, an. cinquemani, Leslie Dick and Marsie Scharlat.

For Grand Performances’ free Friday program this week, there is a dance performance- No Side Now- Dance That Abandons Boundaries- curated by Los Angeles Performance Practice

Cosmonauts are playing at the Teragram Ballroom with Adult Books and Winter

Fatal Jamz are playing at The Echo with Franky Flowers, BOYO and Sugarcube

Boogaloo Assassins are performing a free show at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park

Saturday

Maiden LA is facilitating an open studios program with Studio C Gallery and other galleries in the Santa Fe Art Colony complex from 12-5pm

Dorian Wood will be performing Entre Les Étoiles (Among the Stars) in a free performance with Hawaiian singer Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole opening at California Plaza as part of Grand Performances’ programming

Toad the Wet Sprocket are playing a free show in Pershing Square with 10,000 Maniacs

Chinatown Summer Nights returns for its free monthly summer event with bands, culinary demonstrations, DJs, art demonstrations, performances, a market, and more

Sunday

At LACMA, curator Howard Fox, who organized the current exhibition Playing with Fire: Paintings by Carlos Almaraz, will be in conversation with Elsa Flores, the artist’s widow, who is also a noted activist and photographer. The talk will also include a sneak peek at the upcoming documentary film about the artist, Carlos in Wonderland, which will be aired by KCET in early 2018. (free but ticket required)

The 3rd Annual Long Beach Zine Fest is taking place at the Museum of Latin American Art (free)

Belle and Sebastian are playing at the Hollywood Bowl with Spoon and Kristin Kontrol

Tennis System are opening for Swirlies at the Echoplex

Rapper Sasha Go Hard is performing at Zebulon

New Orleans’ New Breed Brass Band is playing a free show at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park

The Rock N Roll Flea Market returns to the Regent Theater for its monthly free event

May 202017
 

                                                                         My Madinah. In pursuit of my ermitage…, 2004

Jason Rhoades Installations, 1994-2006 at Hauser & Wirth is a lot of show. It’s a big exhibition with several rooms packed with things. Many, many things. In one room numerous neon expressions for female genitalia hang over a mosque-like environment (above), and in another over countless tourist novelties, bare mattresses, and truck nuts (pictured below).

The earlier work, like My Brother/Brancusi, which was created for the 1995 Whitney Biennial, feels a bit stronger, or at least less controversial.  Photos of Brancusi’s studio and Rhoades’ brother’s room are on the walls, while his version of his brother’s room complete with a tower of donuts (somehow still intact) that alludes to Brancusi’s Endless Column, and mechanical objects, fill the center of the installation.

This description is from the press release of The Creation Myth, 1998, another of the better pieces in the show, and gives an insight into Rhoades thought process behind the work-

The artist sought to understand why, how, and what humans create by exploring Creationist and Evolutionist theories in tandem. The irreverent representation of the human body and brain is structured into levels to suggest our categories of perception: the archetypal, the real, the unconscious and the rebellious. Each of the six nouns in the work’s subtitle (‘The Mind, the Body and the Spirit, the Shit, Prick and the Rebellious Part’) is metaphorically portrayed, while the function of the brain itself unfolds through a calculated combination of readymades and images. A series of stacked tables constitutes the ‘brain,’ in which a ‘train of thought’ – a toy train mounted by a snake’s head and tail – circles. Digestible ‘information’ enters the ‘brain’ in the form of pornography-wrapped logs of wood, representing the physicality of creation. Cut and disseminated, ‘information’ is incessantly processed and reproduced by cameras, mirrors, and computers. Smoke rings erupt from ‘the Asshole,’ a fleeting byproduct of the frenzied machine, a personification of the Spirit, alluding to the pursuit of the ephemeral moment.

If you love his work, the chaotic installations and selfie opportunities will delight you. If not, there is still plenty to think about after seeing the show.

                                                                                             Tijuanatanjierchandelier, 2006

This is a good interview discussing the exhibition with the curator (and former partner in the gallery) Paul Schimmel.

This exhibition closes 5/21/17.

May 112017
 

Jonathan Coulton- All This Time

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (5/11-5/14/17)-

Thursday

For their Oracle Film series, The Broad is screening Peggy Ahwesh’s She Puppet and Olivier Assayas’ Demonlover

Playwright Eve Ensler will be discussing intersectional activism with legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw at the Hammer Museum

Downtown LA’s Art Walk theme this month is Zine Nite

Magic Wands, Geneva Jacuzzi, and Glaare are playing at The Hi Hat

Com Truise and Clark are performing at the Regent Theater

Friday

Hammer Museum is having a Constitutional Happy Hour on Fridays in May and June with guided conversations about the Constitution and $5 draft beer and wine. This week’s topic is “Is it possible to constrain Trump under the War Powers Clause?” with Loyola law school professor David Glazier leading the discussion.

PJ Harvey is playing at The Greek Theatre

Subject: Los Angeles returns this week to the Bob Baker Marionette Theater with Los Angeles Lovers as its theme and Angelyne hosting

Author Terry McMillan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting To Exhale) is having a talk and book signing at the California African American Museum (free but RSVP)

Rhondavous is happening at Union Nightclub with a long list of DJs that includes Pete Tong, Little Boots and more

Wale is performing at The Novo

Pomo is playing at the Echoplex with Harrison Brome

Saturday

Jonathan Coulton is opening for Aimee Mann at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel

Penny Rimbaud (poet and founder of the anarchist punk band Crass) will be in conversation with Simon Birch and Nigel Daly, and performing later in the evening at The 14th Factory ($30 for the talk/ $40 talk and performance)

Paul McCarthy, Julien Bismuth, and Christian Scheidemann will be discussing Jason Rhoades’ 1999 monolithic installation, Perfect World, at Hauser & Wirth (free but RSVP)

At the Drive-In are back and playing at the Shrine Auditorium with Le Butcherettes opening

Conor Oberst is playing at The Greek Theatre with Julien Baker opening

Sunday

To celebrate Mother’s Day, The Theatre at the Ace Hotel is showing Mommie Dearest or you can see it at the Egyptian Theatre

It’s the second day of Unique LA’s Spring Market ($15 includes entry for both days, drinks and snacks)

The Vacant Lots are playing with Gateway Drugs and The Meeting Places for The Echo’s Part Time Punks night

May 042017
 

Day Wave- Something Here

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (5/4-5/7/17)-

Thursday

Day Wave is giving a free in-store performance at Amoeba Records with a record signing to follow

Hammer Museum is having a free screening of Do Not Resist, a documentary on the militarization of American police, with a discussion to follow with Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors

MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson is leading a walk-through of the current Carl Andre exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (free and free entrance to the museum)

The Stevenson Ranch Davidians are playing a free show at Harvard & Stone

Avec Sans are playing at Resident with Fiona Grey

Friday

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Hecho in LA: Taco Madness & Micheladas is taking place at La Plaza de Culturas y Artes downtown, with DJs and live art to go along with the food and drink (free and 21+)

LACMA is having a free screening of an episode of the series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, with a conversation with Bourdain to follow

Chico Mann & Captain Planet, Buyepongo, and QUITAPENAS are performing at the Natural History Museum as part of their First Friday event (and Cinco de Mayo)

The New Beverly is showing a double feature of Terrence Malick’s Badlands and Richard Compton’s Macon County Line

Saturday

Los Angeles Family School is having its daytime Spring Fair 2017 with live music by Moby, The Pop Ups and Freedom Fry

The Eclectic Festival is taking place in Pasadena with an art walk and music that includes OZOMATLI and Irene Diaz (free)

Photographer Robert Herman is giving a lecture at Annenberg Space for Photography on how to self publish a book from start to finish ($15 for lecture only/$50 plus signed book/ $75 book and 20 minute private consultation)

Oddisee and Good Compny are performing at the Regent Theater

The Glitch Mob are playing a DJ set at Exchange LA with Nosaj Thing

Paul Bergmann is headlining a show at The Echo with Bart Davenport and Dimber performing

Sunday

The Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre is having two free site specific dance performance for The 1988 series: Punctuation Station, at Westfield Culver City, and includes a public discussion after (reservation required)

It’s probably a good time to check out the Artists Political Action Network who are having a meeting on Sunday with a voter registration to follow at the American Legion in Highland Park (if you miss this one, meetings are on the first Sunday of every month)

LAXART Executive Director and Curator, Hamza Walker and MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson, will be discussing the Maximalist work of Jason Rhoades at Hauser & Wirth (free but registration recommended)

This is the last night of Feist’s three night visit to the Palace Theatre and at this writing, it’s the only night with pairs of tickets left