January 27, 2012

This Weekend, Eagle Rock Deserves Your Leisure Love

Posted by Kim Ohanneson under Go Go Me | Tags: , , , , , , |
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Not the terrible twos....

Go Go’ers, sometimes you have to bow down to the inevitable.  Cocktails are king. Chocolate cures everything.  And this weekend, Eagle Rock is your one-hop-stop for  culture and fun.

You might want to bring a toothbrush and spend the night.

Drinking at a Toddler Celebration

The first brewery to set up shop taproom in Los Angeles in over 60 years, Eagle Rock Brewery is celebrating  two years of beer, brew awards, beer, ladies beer forum, beer, growlers, and beer this Saturday, January 28 from noon to 4:00 p.m.

Clearly, this two-year-old birthday party is not for kids.

Last year’s first anni celebration was at the ERB taproom but this year’s event is taking off at the nearby Verdugo Bar with its spacious, beer garden patio, sinuously curved OG bar, and extensive,  alcoholic, grandfathered-in “To-Go” menu.

You won’t get a goodie bag at this “toddler” party (although seriously, NO kids or pets) but your $12 ticket does get you four drink tickets — many of the Brewery’s special beers will be on tap — plus a commemorative glass.  (Sooo much more fun than a cheap kazoo and some glitter stickers)

There won’t be goldfish crackers or a Toy Story cake but the Mandoline Grille and Grill ‘Em Up will be parked in the lot and dishing the no-host delish for you and your fellow beer revelers.

You should definitely not expect pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, a pinata, confetti or a clown at this birthday bash.

Ms. Go Go thinks that somehow, you’ll still manage to have fun.

(EAGLE ROCK BREWERY TURNS 2! — Sat, Jan 28, noon-4pm; $12; 21+ – the Verdugo, 3408 Verdugo Rd, LA, 90065, 323.257.3408 (Verdugo); http://verdugobar.com/.  For more info: http://eaglerockbrewery.com/events)

Don't try this at home.

Killing Me Softly….

Think about it.  What did people do back in the day before horror movies gave the id an outlet to act out, twist and shout?

Beserkers not included.

According to singer/songwriter Dudley Saunders, the answer is murder ballads —  think love-gone-wrong tales like Frankie and Johnny.   Saunders, who’s presenting Murder Music: A Night of Songs About Killing  with and at Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night,  believes songs about the tragic and the terrible “let us walk in the devil’s footsteps without risking going to hell.”

Ms. Go Go is getting out her devil-walking boots right now.

Joining Saunders are nine other songwriters – David Serby, David Poe, Brian Wright, Phil Krohnengold, Carla Werner, Amy Raasch, Vivek Maddala, Edward Tree and Sara Lov  – who will be giving modern voice to emotions as old as Cain and Abel…

…who presumably didn’t yet have the outlet of murder ballads at their disposal.

Saunders has been working for weeks with video artists Gray and Carpentier on images and videos, both interstitial and backdrop, to be projected behind the performers.  Actual L.A. crime footage will add verite and authenticity.

Are you ready, boots?  Start walkin’….

(MURDER MUSIC: A NIGHT OF MUSIC ABOUT KILLING – Sat, Jan 28, 8-11pm; 18+/$10 atd —  Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock, 90041; 323.226.1617; www.cfaer.org)

"Members of the Los Angeles Free Music Society Testing Pyramid Headphones, 1976." (Photo by Fredrik Nilsen)

Use Your Car to Time Travel

Time travel.  Love the idea but really, still so risky.  What if you stepped on a butterfly and  changed the course of  history?

Now, making visiting the past safe for life as we know it: the Welcome Inn Time Machine  presented by The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound (SASSAS).  The latter, a non-profit that mix/matches experimental music with unconventional venues, is transforming a humdrum Eagle Rock hostelry into a multiplicity of  motel room micro concerts featuring experimental music compositions created between 1949 and 1977.

Coincidentally, the precise decades you’d most like to visit.

Part of the city-wide, months-long Pacific Standard Time Public Art and Performance Festival, the free concert on Sunday, January 29th from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m.,will feature works by or inspired by artists such as John Cage, Ornette  Coleman, James Tenney, and Bob Wilhite performed simultaneously and sequentially.  Highlights include music played by a violin tuned to D.E.A.D. and a concert you experience by calling one hotel room from another.

Bonus: no danger of time-space-continuum headaches.

(WELCOME INN TIME MACHINE - Sun, Jan 29, 4-10pm; Free – Welcome Inn, 1840 Colorado Boulevard, LA 90041. For more info: on SASSAS and this event please call 323-960-5723 or visit http://www.sassas.org/welcomeinn.)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

January 24, 2012

“Give Him Strong Drink Until He Wink”: L.A. celebrates Robbie Burns

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Robbie Burns: "O you, my Muse! good old Scotch drink!"

Ms. Go Go has a wee touch o’ the Scots in her blood — the Ogilvie clan, doncha know — which may, in some small way, explain her appreciation of whiskey.

It doesn’t exactly explain her appreciation of rum, vodka, gin, tequila, and other assorted spirits; the latter is undoubtedly due to natural joie de vivre.

Fingers crossed.

And Go Go’ers, if there was ever a man who appreciated his whiskey it was Robbie Burns, Scotland’s most beloved poet, who romanced women all over the Highlands in the 18th century while writing odes to his native tipple as well as to a Mouse, a Louse, and a Haggis.

You’d expect nothing less from a bard whose Muse is “good old Scotch drink’.

“Burns suppers”, which celebrate the poet’s January 25th birthday, traditionally include the “slaying o’ the Haggis”.  Even bravehearted men and women  have been known to quail at the thought of eating haggis, Scotland’s national dish of oatmeal and offal, although Larousse Gastronomique assures anxious eaters that,  ”Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour”.

Burns doesn’t call it the “Great Chieftain of the sausage race!” for nothing, Go Go’ers.

But here’s even  better news.  Whiskey is an equally important component of Robbie Burns night — and every other night, in Ms. Go Go’s opinion — and with multiple “wee drams” being drunk and Burns’s odes being orated and bagpipes being…piped, you’ll be nibbling haggis like a native.

So raise a glass to the man who wrote, “I sing the juice Scotch barley can make us.”

You’ll be singing the juice too. Guaranteed.

“…a Glass of Whiskey Punch With Honest Men”

“Spirit Guide” Pedro Shanahan and his crew make whiskey palace Seven Grand a fave destination whether celebration or no but Shanahan promises special revelry for “Bobby Burns Night”.   In addition to a a specially crafted Bobby Burns cocktail and a $5 Punch Special — bring some honest men to drink it with, natch — Shanahan is offering discount flights of Glenrothes Vintage Bottlings of ’98, ’94 and ’85 with “free education” until 8 p.m.

You always like to immerse yourself fully in your studies.

Shanahan will be conducting a reading of Burns poetry at 10 p.m. .and encourages eager orators to get in touch (Pedro@213downtown.la) if they want to take part.

After drinking all that Glenrothes, “Oh Whiskey! soul of plays and pranks!” should roll right off the tongue.

(BOBBY BURNS NIGHT – Wed, Jan 25; 5pm – 2 am — Seven Grand, 515 W 7th St, 2nd flr,DTLA, 90014, 213.614.0737.  For more deets: http://213nightlife.com/bobby-burns-night-at-seven-grand-wednesday-12512-2?id=January%2025th,%202012)

"Rabbie" says "See you at The Gorbals."

“You Make Good Food”

Whiskey is the “life of  public haunts” according to Burns and Chef Ilan Hall, second season Top Chef  winner, is definitely the life of  the party at The Gorbals,  his downtown haunt of  daringly delicious Jewish-Scottish fare that would undoubtedly have Burns crying, “O what a glorious sight!”

“House tunes and a piper” will set the mood — ably abetted by The Gorbals’ usual selection of whiskey, bourbon, and single malt scotch — and Hall is offering an a la carte “Burns supper” with entrees such as “Wilted Leek Pie” ($9) and “Acorn Fed Pork Sausage, Crispy Poached Egg” ($15).   Hall promises that “everyone will get some salty short bread at the end!”

Yay to that!

And if you want to start — or continue — your haggis education in spectacular fashion, start off your Burns supper with  ”Haggis, Clapshot, Lagavulin Cream (for two, $27)”

Great chieftain of the sausage race, indeed.

(BURNS SUPPER – Wed, Jan 25, 6 pm – midnight –501 So Spring St,  DTLA, 90013, 213.488.3408; For info/reservstions: http://thegorbalsla.com/)

We will take a cup of kindness yet....

“Give Her a Haggis!”

If you’re looking for more of a traditional Burns night, want to extend the celebration, or just “need” a reason to drink whiskey (as if)  – head to Pasadena  on SUNDAY, January 29th for Beckham Grill‘s ”Robert Burns’ 253rd Bagpipe Birthday Celebration”.

Beckham Grill will be serving their regular dinner menu but diners can enjoy Cindi McIntosh on bagpipes — Ms. Go Go says give her a haggis! – as well a toast and slaying of the haggis by Dr. Neil Stewart McLeod.  (McLeod’s a Life Member President of the Los Angeles Burns Club so you know he’s got his haggis slaying down.)

The Burns brohaha is gratis and haggis is available “if you dare”.  Since Beckham Grill has a solid menu of single malt scotch, you’ll definitely want to take the plunge.

To quote the poet’s ode to “Scotch Drink”:

“…oiled by you,
The wheels of life go down hill, careering,
With rattling glee.”

What single malt does for wheels of life, it can definitely do for haggis.

(ROBERT BURNS’s 253RD BAGPIPE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION — Sun, Jan 29th, 5 – 9pm — Beckham Grill & Pub, 77 West Walnut Street,  Pasadena, 91103  Reservations: 626.796.3399, www.beckhamgrill.com/Events.html)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

January 21, 2012

Warm the Weekend: Do Si Do, 26 Hours of Ladies, and Hawaii 5-0

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This toothless guy will not be fiddling.

Brace yourselves, Go Go’ers.  Winter is here…the SoCal version anyway.  It may not be blizzards and bluster outside but Ms. Go Go knows you’ll feel a pang as you swap cut-offs for cardigans.

Update to your 2012 “To Do” list?  Invent sexy fleece.

Below, three suggestions to help you turn winter woe-is-me into weekend wow-wow-wow.

You don’t have to tell anyone what you’re wearing under that trench coat.

She Says Ho,  You Say Down?

Go Go’ers, here’s your second best plan for exercising indoors and looking good doing it: tonight’s Roots Jubilee and Square Dance at the Echo.  Square dance “calling” (a.k.a. avoiding chaos on the dance floor by indicating upcoming moves)  is both an art and a science.

Kind of like that Kickapoo Juice you have brewing on the back porch.

Susan Michaels is one  of SoCal’s best “callers” and she and Triple Chicken Foot — think Old Time string band/fiddle and banjo, not mutant fowl — will keep you looking good while moving smoothly through Box the Gnat, Slip the Clutch, and Four Ladies Chain.

That last move — not to be confused with a Girls Behind Bars B-movie.

The Dustbowl Revival will rev you up with lose-yourself confabulations — kazoo and washboard may make appearances– while the Driftwood Singers deliver songs of love, loss, liquor and lust.

And if you Partner Trade off the square dance floor, you just might experience all four of the above.

(ROOTS JUBILEE AND SQUARE DANCE — Sat, Jan 21, 5-9 pm; ALL AGES/$7 atd — The Echo, 1822 W Sunset Blvd, LA 90026; 213.413.8200; http://www.attheecho.com/2011/11/23/01-21-11-triple-chicken-foot-dustbowl-revival-echo/)

Model Mania at Dr. Sketchy's Marathon

So Many Models, So Much Time

You’ve been meaning to spiff up those sketch skills…but motivation?  Well, let’s just acknowledge that the demands on your time are many:  the Mojo-Rising-mini-golf tournament (Your windmill slice is legendary);  the crafted cocktail competition (The Downward Salty Dog — your specialty); the Oscar handicapping (Sir Elton has his standards, after all).

Here to provide more motivation than you’ll know what to do with: The Third Annual Dr. Sketchy’s Marathon.  Starting at 8:00 p.m. tonight and ending at 10 a.m. tomorrow – so, just in time to make it to church – 26 hours of  inventively limber ladies (and one guy for um, gender equality) posing for you, your portfolio, and ongoing inspiration.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, it’s a social club, with branches worldwide,  for professional, amateur, and non-artists, men and women, alt and mainstream.  (The only restriction?  No photography, so put away the cell phone, creeper.)

Bring your own art supplies to capture “underground models” — think burlesque beauties, cirque performers, and pin-up girls…not pasty Mole People —  who go beyond art school  poses for the daring, the delightful and the delicious.

After Dr. Sketchy’s Marathon, the answer to “Wanna come up and see my etchings”  will always be “yes”.

(3RD ANNUAL DR. SKETCHY’S MARATHON — Sat, Jan 21 @ 8pm to Sun, Jan 22 @ 10 am; 18+/$39 in advance via PayPal; $45 atd – Studio Servitu, 825 So Alameda, DTLA 90021; Parking free-$5; for more info on models, etc. go to http://www.drsketchy.com/branch/LosAngeles)

Hawaii 5-0

If you fell under the spell of traditional Hawaiian music in The Descendants, are yearning for warm, tropical breezes instead of brisk, winter winds,  or just thought George Clooney rocked those shorts,  the  Fifth Annual Hawaiian Slack Key Festival is your Sunday cup of poi.  Don’t think Don Ho, hula, and luaus (although the umbrella drinks remain awesome).  Slack key guitar comes from the byways and backyards of old Hawaii when King Kamehameha ruled and  cattle, not tourists, fueled the economy.

Presented by Kala Koa Entertainment, the festival features some of the  most prestigious names in slack key guitar, including: award-winning Cyril Pahinui, whose father Gabby was instrumental in popularizing slack key; Jeff Peterson, who’s contributed to two Grammy-winning records; and special guests such as performer/composer Ed Gerhard, who is proficient on  6-string, slide guitar, and Acoustic Hawaiian Lap Slide (Weissenborn).

It’s the cheapest ticket around to your mid-winter tropical vacation.

(THE FIFTH ANNUAL HAWAIIAN SLACK KEY FESTIVAL — Sun, Jan 22nd @ 2 pm; $35 – $55 – Redondo  Beach Performing Arts Center,  1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Redondo Beach, 90278, 562.556.4824; www.SlackKeyFest.com)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

January 13, 2012

Banglamoose, A Picture Show, and One Degree of Tree

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See more at photo l.a.

Go Go’ers, it’s Day 13 of 2012.  Do you know where your resolutions are?

Whether those suckers are still on the shelf all shiny and new or crumpled up with lint and a dry stick of gum in your discarded New Year’s Eve duds, it’s never too late to get serious about Being a Better Person.  (Or at least a more cultured one.)

There’s the hard way  – Mother Teresa — and the easy way  – Ms. Go Go.

The former involves fetid slums, a nun habit, and a long trip to India.  The latter involves music, art, your fave ensembles , and barely any travel time at all.

Ms. Go Go thinks the choice is clear.

Who wouldn't want to be one degree from Ed Tree?

Tree People x 2

Trees.  You like them.  In fact, it’s safe to say you’re a fan  – whether the trees are holding up your slacker time hammock, propping you up for nature-esque photos, or shading you from the sun during your recent winter picnic.

That Jack Frost glare can be intense.

Of course, they’re great for the environment — not just your leisure needs, lazy — and The Talking Stick in Venice makes it easy to take care of both with the  5th Annual Auld Lang Syne  edition of Mark Islam’s Grassroots Acoustica 55, which has raised almost $45,000 for L.A. causes.

That’s some Mother Teresa-level do-gooding right there.

Offering you the opportunity to show your Tree appreciation in a concrete fashion: “One Degree to Edward Tree”.  Guest of Honor Ed Tree, a well-respected songwriter, musician, and producer on the roots/country/Americana music scene,  will be performing along with many of the equally well-respected artists he’s worked with over the years including Brad Colerick, Dudley Saunders, Kevin Fisher, Lisa O’Kane, and Marty Axelrod to name just a few.  There’s no cover charge but 100% of the donations go to Treepeople.org.

Dig deep.  Your next picnic will thank you.

(ONE DEGREE TO EDWARD TREE — Sat, Jan 14, 7-10 pm; no cover charge but donations suggested —  The Talking Stick Coffee Lounge, 1411-C Lincoln Blvd (@ California), Venice, 902o1, 310.450.6052)

Save the Moose Lodge Bar!

Moose Loves Ya, Baby!

Go Go’ers, it can’t be denied that this time of year we all need a little post-holiday TLC.

The Moose is no exception.

Recently, a drunk driver rammed into the Burbank Moose Lodge — a long-time bastion of roots and blues in the East Valley — and not only smashed the venue’s signature moose mural, painted by local artist Randall Williams, but — horrors — the cozy back bar as well.

Talk about biting the hand that serves you….

Helping to save the moose and the joy juice at a reconstruction fundraiser Saturday, January 14th: The Happy Hour Band – made up of members of Rod Stewart, Lucinda Williams, Joe Cocker, and Dwight Yoakam’s bands.  Also helping to re-spruce the Moose: the blues-gritty Luis Oliart Band and gospel sensations Little Faith.

Think of it as Moose Lodge love.

(BANGLAMOOSE – Sat, Jan 14 @ 8pm; Suggested donation $10 – Burbank Moose Lodge, 1901 Burbank Blvd,  Burbank, 91506)

Get there before the hordes.

Camera Not-So-Obscura

Ms. Go Go loves a good photo booth and shaking it like a Polaroid.

And really, who doesn’t?

But if you want to boldly go beyond the Kodak moment, head to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium this weekend for the 21st edition of photo l.a.

In addition to hitting the legal drinking age, the 21st Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition — its big boy name — offers three days of “vintage masterworks, contemporary photography,video and multimedia installations”, lectures, panels, book signings.  You’ll also find special installations such as those focusing on post-WWII art created in Southern California  –  the latter in connection with the Getty’s  Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945 – 1980.

In other words, eat your pre-Exposition Wheaties.

Other special features include Salon de Tableaux, an area of “tabletop presentations showcasing vintage, vernacular and unique photography” , and the introduction of photoBOOK – a forum with guest reviewers offering feedback to photographers on their book proposals.

Imagine: your collection of china shepherdess figurines immortalized in photographic book form.

Ironically, of course.

(photo .l.a. — Sat – Mon, Jan 14-16th, Sat & Sun 11am – 7pm, Mon 11am – 6pm; $15 – $35 — Santa Monica Civic Auditorium,  1855 Main St, Santa Monica 90501.

For  info: www.photola.com. For tix: http://photola21.eventbrite.com/. For venue info:  www.santamonicacivic.org)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

January 5, 2012

On The 12th Night of Xmas….

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Go Go’ers, the Twelve Days of Christmas isn’t just a song about conspicuous consumption and/or an obsessive stalker-ish boyfriend.

January 6th, the twelfth day of Christmas, is Three Kings Day when the Three Wise Guys  – as Ms. Go Go’s li’l gangsta goddaughter used to call them — finally showed up with gold and other prezzies…

…thereby making them fashionably late instead of shockingly rude.

Ms. Go Go is SLIGHTLY better organized  than those Wandering Wise Men (who obviously wouldn’t stop to ask for directions).   Lucky you –here’s  a 12th Night 2012 road map to the shiniest new events of the new year.

Word to the wise: leave the frankincense and myrrh at home.

Take Me to the River

Go Go’ers, it may be 83 degrees and dropping — brrr —  but you’ll want to brave the elements for the FREE 2nd Annual Downtown Arts District WinterFest 2012 put on by the Los Angeles River Artists & Business Association (LARABA) and LADADspace.

Running January 5th through January 8th, the four-night event gets you cultured up from the January get-go with art from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. on Sunday), Padua Playwrights readings from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., a Sunday poetry reading at 9:00 p.m., and music from 10:00 – midnight.  Gourmet food trucks keep hunger and dehydration at bay.

The no-host bar keeps the joint jumping.

The more-talent-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at Fest includes  Southern chanteuse Tawny Ellis, Thirties jazz  purist Eddie Reed’s Big Band, Wallace Shawn’s Obie-award-winning The Fever,  and poet Danielle Adair who was “embedded media” with US Forces in Afghanistan.  For Arts District eye candy, anticipate iconographic art by Richard Kessler, collaborative, on-site installations by street artists Street Artists Cryptik, Chor Boogie, Vyal One, and  Slick & Defer, and Michael French’s interactive video installation, which scrambles up occult symbols, video game graphics, and pop culture elements into magical incantations.

You always like to start the New Year with magical incantations.

(ARTS DISTRICT WINTERFEST 2012 — Thurs, Jan 5th – Sat, Jan 7th; 5 pm – 12 am; Sun, 4 pm – 11:30 pm – Lot 613, 613 Imperial St, DTLA 90021; parking available on surrounding streets and nearby parking lots; http://www.artsdistrictwinterfest.com/Home_Page.html)

Kicking It off at McCabe’s

Film and T.V. composer Ernest Troost has danced at the Emmy party; he’s won one, been nominated for many.  On Friday, January 6th, Troost inaugurates the 2012 season at McCabes with his newest album, the aptly titled Ernest Troost Live at McCabes: a celebration of the artist’s roots-centric songwriting, which mixes traditional country blues and ragtime with contemporary lyrics that evoke the past.  Nicole Gordon, Mark “Pocket” Goldberg, and Debra Dobkin join Troost while virtuoso banjo and guitar picker Shaun Cromwell  opens with songs that dazzle with wordplay.

On Three Kings Night 2012, this pair of aces is the hand to draw.

(ERNEST TROOST LIVE AT MCCABES – Fri, Jan 6th @ 8 pm; $15 –  McCabes, 3101 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica 90405,  For tix & info: http://www.mccabes.com/condata.html; parking info: http://www.mccabes.com/parking.html; 310.828.4497)

(Courtesy of American Cinematheque)

To The Moon, Alice!

Go Go’ers, it’s been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.  As a hedge against a life full of failed, get-rich-quick schemes, start the new year with some golden Gleason.   The Honeymooners sketches, starring Jackie Gleason as  blustering, bumbling, Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden and  Art Carney as his sewer cleaning sidekick Ed Norton, first aired 60 years ago but the live episodes from 1951 to 1957 were subsequently lost.

You suspect Lucy and Ricky have some ‘splainin’ to do….

Luckily for your  financial future, the American Cinematheque screens the “Lost Episodes” on Saturday, January 7th at 7:30 p.m.  at the Egyptian Theater.  Post screening, there will be a discussion with Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Frank Marth (The Honeymooners), Pamela Adlon (Louie),  Peter Mehlman (Seinfeld), and T.V. and voice actor Chuck McCann so you can count on a whole lot of “Har har hardee har har”.

You couldn’t have put it better yourself.

(THE HONEYMOONERS – Sat, Jan 7th @ 7:30 pm; $7 – $11 – American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blv, 90028, http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/the-honeymooners-lost-episodes-1951-1957)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

December 28, 2011

This Year, New Year’s Eve Will Be Great

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You'll have fun even if a little, golden stag doesn't dance on your hand.

You swore you wouldn’t do it again and yet, here you are.

You raise your bleary, post-Xmas head in which visions of sugar plums — whatever the heck they are — have polka’ed your plan-ahead gene into oblivion.  You realize — horrors! — it’s mere days until New Year’s Eve and you’ve forgotten to figure out where you’ll go for the Most-Fun-Or-Die-Trying Night of the Year.

Not to worry, slackers.  Ms. Go Go has sifted through this year’s list of umpteen parties and chosen three of the best.

The fun patrol never sleeps.

Party Like It’s 1929

Maybe it’s the influence of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.  Maybe party planners are feeling especially simpatico with the Great Depression.  Maybe it’s just the appeal of the sleek duds.   Whatever the reason, it seems every other New Year’s Eve event this year is a Prohibition-era shindig.

There could be worse problems.

If  a Roaring Twenties New Year’s Eve is your cup of bathtub gin, ankle over to the posh Park Plaza for LACMA Muse‘s Golden Stag New Year’s Eve Party .  Dressed-to-impress sheiks and shebas — that would be you, fashion plate — will be sipping cocktails, savoring treats, ogling dancers, prancers, and romancers, and swinging to the eighteen-piece Elliot Deutsch Big Band.

The swanky,  revelry-revved bash is a Sypher Art Studios  affair — you know them from Labyrinth of Jared Masquerade Ball – so top drawer talent, peerless ambiance, and impeccable attention to detail are all guaranteed — not to mention a complimentary champagne toast  and midnight fireworks.

The latter can’t hold a sparkler to you, Broadway baby.

(THE GOLDEN STAG NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY — Sat, Dec 31 from 9pm – 2 am; $50/21+ — Grand Ballroom, Park Plaza Hotel, 607 South Park View St, LA, 90057; Tickets 323 857-6010 or purchase online - no tickets available at the door.)

Best place to anticipate the Apocalypse......

Countdown to Midnight…and Armageddon. 

That ball drop signifying the end of the year?   Yawn.  So unoriginal.

This year, up the countdown ante with a midnight toast to oblivion — the Mayan, not the liquid Manhattan kind — at The Beginning of the End of the World New Year’s Eve Party at Villain’s Tavern.

To help you prepare for the possible arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — those party poopers — the Arts District oasis offers Punchfest; on New Year’s Eve, five to seven varieties of VT’s signature punches will drop a dollar an hour in price  from $11 for a Mason jar pint at 7:00  p.m. to $6 at midnight when you’ll also get free champagne to toast the End of Days.

The Rapture is so much more palatable with punch and a little bubbly.

(THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE WORLD NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY -  Sat, Dec 31st; doors open at 5 pm; no cover charge/21+ — Villains Tavern, 1356 Palmetto St, DTLA 90013, 213.613.0766, www.villainstavern.com)

See how good Marilyn looks in black & white?

Hedging Your Bets in Style

Just in case the world is ending next December, you’ll want to rack up some good karma to offset the impending cataclysm.

This New Year’s Eve, do good and look good doing it at the White & Black(out) Ball,  presented by Night Tap and benefiting Thinking About Tomorrow — a Santa Monica–based org that initiates community educational programs such as health and fitness initiatives, recycling programs, and back-to-school drives.

Already, you’re feeling so much better about your post-Apocalyptic prospects.

You’ll keep that do-gooder glow well in into 2012 after the benefit bash in the two-story ballroom in the elegantly historical Santa Monica Bay Club (c. 1914).  Everyone looks swell in black and white — as any pre-Technicolor movie proves – so join your fellow Beautiful Benefactors at the swell soiree featuring an open bar, music courtesy of Keaton James, the Rockstars, and DJ Jamie Charles, the ubiquitous champers toast at midnight, and giveaways all night long.

It’s so easy being good.

(THE WHITE & BLACK(OUT) BALL — Sat, Dec 31st  from 9:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.; $80/21+ – The Santa Monica Club, 1210 4th St, Santa Monica 90401.  Limited $60 discount tix available at Night Tap.) 

Drink and Ride – A PSA from Ms. Go Go

Go Go’ers, this NYE leave your 2011 cares behind you and the driving to the MTA, which is offering 24 hour service  from 9:00 pm on Saturday, December 31st to “close of service on January 2nd”.

Even better, the MTA is offering FREE rides on all Metro trains and buses on New Year’s Eve from 9:00 p.m. Saturday, December 31st until 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 1st.  You can still ride after 2:00 a.m. — you just have to pay regular fare.

They had Ms. Go Go at “ride after 2:00 a.m.”

For more details — including getting up at an ungodly hour for Rose Bowl Parade action — go to the Metro website.

Ready?   U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

 

December 23, 2011

Big Box Holiday (No, Not That Kind)

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Go Go’ers, we’re down to a couple days of ho, ho, ho and counting for Baby J’s birthday bash this Sunday.  Here’s the problem.  After Sunday, comes Monday and there you are with a passel of house guests clamoring to see the “real” L.A.

Or maybe that’s just you climbing the walls.

Either/or, this bunch of Boxing Day forays is guaranteed to wipe Christmas from your memory and kickstart you toward NYE.

Ready to rumble?

A Post-Holiday Hike…With Metro Stops

You’ve been spitting out faux snow at temples of commerce all over town.  Now come see a real winter wonderland, SoCal style.  In May, Dan Koeppel leads a two-day, 40 mile hike from Downtown L.A. to the Hollywood Sign.  His Boxing Day Epic hike won’t be quite as ambitious  but your bootay will definitely feel like it’s on the way to NYE awesomeness.

The all-day, post Xmas expedition starts at Fillmore Station – Metro Gold Line at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. at  the Lincoln Heights Station – Metro Gold Line where finishers will ride the rails back to the starting point.  In between stations, you’ll zip — well, maybe not zip — back and forth across the Arroyo Seco via twelve miles of “stairs, dirt paths, tunnels, and bridges”.

So, basically, everything but a sidewalk, you urbanite you.

Want to hike but can’t commit to the full, dirty dozen miles?  Koeppel advises that hikers will be “passing near several Gold Line stations along the way, so there will be multiple options to shorten/bail.”

If you’re already triangulating your “bail” options with convenient mid-day martini stops,  immediately revise the above designation to “slacker urbanite.  And please apprise Ms. Go Go of your itinerary.

The ‘tini research never ends.

(BOXING DAY EPIC hike — Mon, 12/26, 9 am – 4 pm/Free – Fillmore Station – Metro Gold Line, 95 Fillmore St, Pasadena, 91105, http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/273326212717902/

Toon Town — The Reel Deal

Out-of-towners may think your glamorous L.A. life is year-round poolside lounging under palms, cutting-edge dance clubs filled with Other Beautiful People, and non-stop sushi rolls and Cranhattans.  And while it is all that — and so much, much more —  the real advantage of urban living is the opportunity to kick back and see your childhood  cartoon faves on a bigger-than-a-flat-screen at the 2nd annual Cartoon Hall of Fame Big Screen Event at the Alex Theater in Glendale.

Tinsel Town home advantage, baby.

There’s an afternoon (2:00 p.m.) and an evening (7:00 p.m.) screening of the 35 mm, classic cartoons and all of the expected cinematic genre fare is represented: mutant children (the weirdly wonderful Gerald McBoing Boing, 1951);  eerie tales of the supernatural (Lonesome Ghosts, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, 1937); and lush adventures in exotic lands (Popeye Meets Ali Baba, 1937).

There’s also the esteemed literary classic: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Mouse. (Tom & Jerry, 1947).  You’ll probably want to bring that brainiac hottie you’ve been trying to impress. ’Cause nothing says “intellectual” like Mr. Mouse.

(2ND ANNUAL CARTOON HALL OF FAME BIG SCREEN EVENT  - Mon, Dec 26, 2 pm & 7 pm/$10 – $15  –  Alex Theater, 216 N Brand Blvd, Glendale, 91203, 818.243.2539  http://www.alextheatre.org/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=525&year=2011&month=12)

Boxing Day Imbibing for a Cause

If you’re lucky, you know R Bar‘s Naomi Schimek and her deft hand with lush, garden-gladdened cocktails.   This Monday, Schimek is hosting a Boxing Day Social — and really, what’s more social than drinking on Boxing Day? – at The Spare Room in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Here’s who else is fortunate — Downtown down-and-outers served by the Hospitality Kitchen (a.k.a. the Hippie Kitchen),  a soup kitchen operated by Los Angeles Catholic Worker, which is benefiting from your suggested $10 at-the-door donation as well as funds raised via The First Annual Bartender with Bar Tabs Auction.

That’s right, Go Go’ers.  Kings and queens  of L.A.’s cocktail culture will donate their time plus bar tabs from their home bars for pre-paid drinking dates.  Already, you’re intrigued.  And to sweeten the deal, there’s also a Jenga tournament, bottomless punch, bar bites, and music by Hobo Jazz.

Ms. Go Go knows she had you at Jenga tournament.

(BOXING DAY SOCIAL – Mon, Dec 26, 7 – 11 pm/$10 suggested donation — The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (Mezzanine Level,  7000 Hollywood Blvd,  Hollywood, 90028, 323.769.7296, www.spareroomhollywood.com)

Ready?  U Know  U Want 2 Go Go….

 

December 14, 2011

Merry Twistmas to All

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Have weenie tree, will travel.

Just about now, you’re hoping it’s YOU who’ll  get run over by a reindeer what with the Muzak-mauled carols, the mall-maddened crowds, and the 7-11-icky eggnog.

De rigueur holiday gift: a cocktail guide stocking stuffer for the office party planner.

To put you out of your seasonal misery, Ms. Go Go advises cutting the sugar with a little spice – say,  juniper berries taken in the form of gin — and adding a theatrical chaser – or four — with the following So-Not-Taking-the-Season-Seriously shows. You’ll have to move fast; these theatrical events are late-breaking, ending soon, or sure to be sold out.

You’re obviously not the only Grinch in town. 

True Tales, Retro Slides, and Astro Weenie Trees

STOP!  Before reading on, clickety-clack those computer keys to grab tickets to kitsch historian Charles Phoenix’s just-added, sure-to-be-sold-out  Retro Holiday Slide Show this Sunday, December 18th at 3:00 p.m. Gape at the glory of a Kodachrome year in vintage slides that start with politically incorrect Rose Bowl Parade floats and end with a Christmas bondage party.

Sure, you can take notes for your next birthday bash.

LATE BREAKING NEWS!  Now that you’ve got Sunday scheduled, cancel your Hump Day lunch and head downtown for True Holiday Tales With Charles Phoenix and Friends, a FREE Grand Performances midday event today, Wednesday, December 14th from noon to 1:00 p.m.   Joining the Ambassador of Americana are tellers of true tales such as Ric Salinas (one-third of the comedy group Culture Clash) and Kristina Wong (who tours with her one-woman show Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest while feuding with James Franco).   You’d go mano  a mano with Franco any time.

And yes, Grand Performances dares you to bring an Astro Weenie Tree.

(TRUE HOLIDAY TALES with Charles Phoenix and Friends — Today! Wed, Dec 14th from noon-1pm/FREE — Grand Performances, California Plaza Watercourt, 350 South Grand, DTLA 213.687.2159, grandperformances.org)

(CHARLES PHOENIX RETRO HOLIDAY SLIDE SHOW – Sun, Dec 18 @ 3pm; $30 – REDCAT Theater, 631 West 2nd St, LA 90012; http://www.redcat.org/event/charles-phoenix-0)

Buk up!

Buk the Season

What better antidote to Xmas than the man who said, “I don’t like jail, they have the wrong kind of bars in there.”

Happy holidays!

Whether you already love the chronicler of L.A.’s low life or just wanna say Scrooge the season, don’t miss the final performance of  Christmas 4 Bukowski this Friday, December 16th at 8:30 p.m. at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater.  Jessica Lynn Verdi serenades with carols as you enter the black box theatre but don’t get your pom-pom panties in a twist; director Josh T. Ryan cuts the cheer with a healthy dose of Bukowski’s cyanide-sharp prose and poetry.  By the time you leave the theater, all Xmas sentiment will have been scoured away so you can wade into the holiday fray once more. 

Bukowski would definitely approve your post-performance, wading-into-the-fray nightcap.

(CHRISTMAS 4 BUKOWSKI – FINAL PERFORMANCE!  Fri, Dec 16th @ 8:30 p.m./$10 – Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre, 4850 Lankershim Blvd, No Hollywood;  818.202.4120 zombiejoes.homestead.com)

'Cause he's your best friend.... (Courtesy of Santasia)

Merry Full Monty and the Little Penguin That Could

The bad boys of Santasia, all alumni of ImprovOlympics, Second City, and ComedySportz,  have been gleefully skewering holiday traditions for over a decade — that’s 40 reindeer years to you — with their R-rated mix of  original claymation (penguin), film shorts (penguin again), and laugh-’til-you-choke sketches such as an epic get-the-bully snowball brawl and the sleigh ride from hell.

Just in case you’ve been dreaming of a  James Cameron-does-White Christmas….

And if you’ve been dragged to one too many performances of The Nutcracker and The Snow Queen, you’ll appreciate the definitely-not-Kringle-approved choreography in musical parodies ranging from Chicago to Fame to The Full Monty. 

Nothing says holiday like a scantily clad man wearing a Menorah.

(SANTASIA – through Sat, Dec 24; various days/times; $23 on line/$35 at the door; Rated R — Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, 91423, for info and tix http://santasia.com/index.htm)

 

December 9, 2011

Faith Healing, Crafting with Cocktails, and a Watery Wonderland

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Every child deserves a monstrous Christmas.

You’re SO in the swing of the season, Go Go’ers.

You’ve draped a little tinsel on your sleigh-riding boots.  (Red and green, natch.)

You’ve refined your Merry Martini. (The secret ingredient?  Definitely naughty.)

Your rendition of Rockin’ Around the Xmas Tree rules. (Two words: more cowbell.)

So this weekend?  A little giving, a little gallivanting, a little glitz.

Don’t worry.  Santa will know when you’re good.

A Little Faith, a Lotta New Orleans

There is no place like N’Awlins at Christmas.   (Ms. Go Go knows.)

Big Easy not on your reindeer route?

Head on over to the Moose Lodge (substitute antlers) in Burbank where ten bucks or a $10 unwrapped toy – preferred, you slacker – gets you an all night dose of Crescent City courtesy of Little Faith‘s roots, gospel, and second line sound, with special guests Mark “Torch” Tortorici and Robyn Kirmssee & Doug Perkins.  The beneficiaries?  The Family Service Agency of Burbank, Moose Charities, and the kids they serve.

The one having all the festive fa la la?  That would be you.

(LITTLE FAITH ” NIGHT OF GIVING” – Fri, Dec 9th, 8pm – ?/$10 (toy/cash) — Club 652 (Moose Lodge), 1901 Burbank Blvd, Burbank, 818.842.5851, www.littlefaith.com)

Cuckoo for Christmas

Libations, Broken Glass, and a Photo Booth to Capture It All 

Everyone seems to be a Do-It-Yourself-er these days, crafting Etsy-ready adorables with effortless aplomb.  If, like Ms. Go Go, you love the handmade look but are handier with a cocktail shaker than a hot glue gun, you’ll want to make a list and take your checkbook twice to the 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair.

Two days, 200+ vendors, 2000 kinds of artisanal awesome.

Feeling adventuresome? (Or a glutton for punishment?)  From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, you can make everything from a ‘zine to “handmade beer + soda koozies” –  if you have to ask, you should probably go — and record your artistry for the ages in a photo booth sponsored by Magnolia Photo Booth Co.

And if you’re really a daredevil, grab a libation from the Renegade bar then check out Piece by Piece, which “empowers residents in the underserved communities of Los Angeles” — so already, amazing — and will teach YOU the art of mosaics.

If your Hottie Toddy mug falls and shatters?  It’s the mosaic-al gift that keeps on giving. 

(RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR – Sat & Sun, Dec 10th & 11th, 10am – 5pm/Free — Renegade Holiday Craft Fair, Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 North Spring Street, LA 90012, http://www.renegadecraft.com/holiday-la)

Canals all aglow....

Oh, those Holiday Lights, On Those Holiday Canals

Vacationing inVenizia may be on your Christmas wish list but for closer canals with serious seasonal sparkle, head west this weekend for the Vintage Venice Reel to Real Special Holiday Tour.

Long-time Venice resident Jonathan Kaplan, who has written for NYPD Blue and JAG, leads six-person walking tours year-round of  his seaside home town with then-and-now photos and iPad-supported film and T.V. clips of Venice vistas, villains, and visionaries.

The latter three?  Your basic, holiday party to-do list.

The Special Holiday Tour runs from December 11th through December 16th (2:00 p.m. daily) and ends with a canal-side stroll to see casas all aglow.  You’ll want to grab tix for the Sunday tour, which is especially Special, including as it does, the 30th annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade.

You love the smell of wassail in the evening.

(VINTAGE VENICE REEL TO REAL SPECIAL HOLIDAY TOUR — Dec 11-16th @ 2pm (approx. 3 hrs.)/$40 — Vintage Venice Tours, 1601 Main St, Venice 90291, 424.999.8687 http://vintagevenicetours.com)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

December 1, 2011

Don’t Wear a Reindeer Sweater to These Events

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There will be girls, gams, and gin at Cole's.

If you’ve anxiously awaited the return of Xmas-ornament- cufflink -’n-earring-season, Ms. Go Go advises that you take two aspirin and call when you’ve come to your senses.

The first weekend of December is all about the twinkletoes and the ho ho ho(ooch).

Light it up, Go Go’ers…light it up.

Don’t Forget Your Mistletoe Corsage

Basically, high school would have been so much better with cocktails.  And Ms. Go Go isn’t talking about the spiked Kool-Aid that passed for punch at your “One Starry Night” prom, either.

Tonight, bringing in December while bringing you the best teen dance do-over ever, HM Soundsystem & Friends presents  the “Broader Than Broadway” Winter Formal at the Forties-fabulous Broadway Bar.

There will be roaming photographers.   There will be a Matadors y Toros photo booth.  And while Ms. Go Go will take a Manhattan, thank you very much, there will be $3 Pabst Blue Ribbons.  Best of all?  A Winter Formal King and Queen will be crowned.

You always like  to kick off the holidays in a shiny crown.

(“BROADER THAN BROADWAY” WINTER FORMAL — Thurs, Dec 1st, 10pm – 2am/No Cover/21+ — Broadway Bar,  830 S Broadway, DTLA 90014,213. 614..9909)

Year-round Xmas neon

Xmas Torch & Twang

If your season is all about the songs, then Come All Ye Faithful Americana fans  to the Cinema Bar Christmas Party this Sunday where two dozen performers of the country, blues, and roots persuasion will soothe your jangled spirits after December’s first hellish weekend of holiday shopping.

Damn the Bop-it craze that’s sweeping the nation.

The oldest bar in Culver City delivers old school dive-iness, a touch of the tropics (Ok, a fish tank on the patio…but still), and a heavy hand of Christmas any-time-of-year cheer for a relax-into-it start to the season.

‘You may not get all carols, all night long but really, how many times can you hear “pa rum pa pa pum” before you stick yourself in the eye with a candy cane?

(THE CINEMA BAR CHRISTMAS PARTY – Sun, Dec 4 @ 8pm/No Cover/21+ — Cinema Bar, 3967 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, 90230, 310. 390.1328, thecinemabar.com/)

Drink Like It Used to be Illegal

Given the hoopla, you’d think Christmas was the Big Deal holiday in December.

Fans of the grape and the grain — not to mention molasses, the potato, and the juniper berry — know the real holiday to celebrate is Repeal Day on December 5 when Prohibition was…prohibited.

On Sunday, December 4th, Cole’s combines their 103rd birthday bash with  a day-early commemorative countdown to the 78th anniversary of  Boozers Rejoice! Day, when sanity reigned once more and whiskey flowed like wine.

Get au courant on Boardwalk Empire to remind yourself of just how lucky you are, then skedaddle downtown on the early side.  The shindig starts at 9pm and the first 200 lucky stiffs get free French Dip sammies to fortify themselves for the cocktail competition, the three-piece jazz band, and most importantly, the ice bathtub full of gin.

Although really, how much fortifying do you want against gin, anyway?

(REPEAL DAY @ COLE’S – Sun, Dec 4th @ 9pm — 118 E 6th St, DTLA, 90014, 323. 622.4090, http://213nightlife.com/colesfrenchdip)

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

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