May 24, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: Memorialize This, L.A.: Degenerate Prom, Sunset Jubilee, and Free Art

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Not your usual Memorial Day weekend.

Here’s a conundrum: it’s officially still spring but somehow this weekend has been dubbed the start of summer.  Which makes Memorial Day weekend the brunch of the season.

So far, so good.

Perhaps you were planning to celebrate the usual way with flags, barbecues and/or parades but Ms. Go Go has a few suggestions to shake up the same-old, same-old in honor of the weekend’s newly recognized hybrid-ness

Welcome to “sprummer”.

More Than a Music Fest

Whatever the season, we’re well into the lineup of music fests but don’t be fooled into thinking that the upcoming Saturday/Sunday street party Jubilee is Coachella-on-the-corner.

Not that you would be fooled.

The greenest of them all….

Proving that anything can change its name, the festival-formerly-known-as-”Silver Lake Jubilee” offers up music, of course; look for hometown indie faves like the Allah-Las, Fidlar, Las Cafeteras, Tearist, and Virtual Boy.

In addition, the non-profit Los Angeles Arts & Athletics Alliance, which uses profits to fund community endeavors, goes beyond the expected with a full schedule of comedians such as Natasha Leggero, Kumail Nanjiani, and Jonah Ray as well as a literary line-up that includes writers like Ben Ehrenreich, Dirty Laundry Lit, an org that promotes reading (And why wouldn’t you read with that title?), and Les Figues, whose mission is “to champion the trinity of Beauty, Belief, and Bawdry.

Which just happen to be your favorite three B’s as well….

In addition, there’s a FREE Block Party with two stages, kid activities, a huge line-up of food trucks, multiple booze sponsors, shopping, AND the whole shebang is a Zero Waste Event, making it a BYOWB (Bring Your Own Water Bottle) affair.

Or as you like to call it…a flask.

JUBILEE — Sat, May 26 from noon-11pm & Sun, May 27, noon-10pm; all ages (El Cid & Eagle LA are 21+); free-$35 — 4219 Santa Monica Blvd, LA 90029

IMPORTANT  TRANSPORTATION/PARKING INFO!

Much art; no buckets of blood.

Exorcising Your CARRIE Demons

Are your Prom Night memories more cringe-inducing than magical?    The Department Against Degenerate Art (DADA) helps you rewrite your Bad Hair/Dress/Date history with Saturday’s Degenerate Prom and WTF Art Show.

For one thing, you get to choose your date.

More costume party and alt-art celebration than not-so-fun Rite of Passage, the event at the DTLA Mezz Bar starts with a FREE Artists Reception from 8-10pm featuring dozens of alt-artists then morphs into a super-cheap ($5) prom.  The first 50 people get a “degenerate art grab bag”. (Ooh, want, want.)  Food, a full bar, and Degenerate Corsages and Boutonnieres will be available.

Go Go’ers, don’t count on a carnation.

Attendees are encouraged to “dress according to  your most demented dreams”; Naomi Coronel will immortalize the results in prom pictures. A non-gender-specific Prom King and Queen will be crowned at midnight and unlike high school, special prizes will be awarded.

Finally, the “Best Tuxedo T-Shirt” award you’ve always craved.

DEGENERATE PROM & WTF ART SHOW — Sat, May 26; Free from 8-10pm/$5 10pm-2am; 21+ — The Mezz Bar, 501 S. Spring, 2nd Flr, DTLA 90013; http://www.facebook.com/events/344871232239382/

Memorial Day idealized at LACMA’s California Design

More Free Art for Sprummer

Sure, Target’s your fave spot for shower curtain shopping but for an even better art-and-design-centric  event, check out Target’s Free Holiday Monday at LACMA.

Don’t expect to buy a blender.

Want a glimpse into back-in-the-day Memorial weekends of outdoor living and lobster-adorned leisure wear?  Then be sure to check out California Design, 1930-1965:” Living in a Modern Way” exhibit, which closes next weekend. Also closing next weekend, Robert Adams:The Place We Live features Adams’s photos of the American West, including Los Angeles in the post-WW II construction boom years.

Think of it as the Before and After exhibits.

The May 28th event has a component geared toward Cultured Tots and their doting Parentals.  Free tickets to the Boone Children’s Gallery on Target Free Holiday Monday will be timed and distributed on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event. Timed tickets allow for a thirty-minute visit.

In case you have a kid with that attention span.

And whether you’re a kid, a kid at heart, an architect, an urban planner or just appreciate fantastic design, don’t miss Chris Burden’s gallery-sized Metropolis II: a complete city system that’s less Legoland, more City of the Future.

A City of the Future where Sprummer will undoubtedly be celebrated.

TARGET FREE HOLIDAY MONDAYS – Mon, May 28th, noon-8pm, 12-3; Free/All ages – LACMA. 5905 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90036, 323 857-6000; http://www.lacma.org/event/target-free-holiday-mondays-3

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….


 

May 16, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: PoP Patty, Pirate Fest, and The Big Parade

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Pretty (and Pop) in Pink

It’s just the perfect weekend: a pop happening, a hike over hill, dale, and staircase, and the chance to yell yo-ho-ho over a bottle of rum and not look feel like an idiot.

Could life get any better?

Pop Princesses

Who doesn’t remember Patty “Stockholm Syndrome” Hearst and Patty “They Walk Alike, They Talk Alike” Duke?

Creator/producer/director Patrick Kennelly definitely does and he’s dreamed up PATTY! a darkly comedic fable that features live, 360-degree, outerdisciplinary performances  – equal parts dance-pop concert, fashion show and new media installation — and a full album release.

Clearly, Kennelly needs no sleep.

The PoP! musical event, which opens Friday, May 18th and runs for only seven performances, features 15 female performers, choreography by Marina Magalhães (of Contra-Tiempo) with additional choreography by Jmy James Kidd (of MGM) and Kennelly.  Opening music acts for the run include Actually Huizenga, Kristin “Kevin Blechdom” Erickson and the M.T. Brain, Wet Mango, Bloody Mares and Maxi Wild.  To start your Patty! journey, go to http://www.pattytherevival.com for an interactive, fully immersive Patty! experience designed by Adam Bech Harmas and listen to songs on patty.bandcamp.com.

Luckily, you don’t need sleep either.

PATTY! A PoP Musical Experience — Fri, May 18 – Sun, May 20 and Wed, May 23 – Sat, May 26th; 8:30pm. $15 (Standing) and $30 (VIP Seating) – Highways Performance Space @ 18th Street Arts Center, 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, 90404, 310.315.1459;  http://highwaysperformance.org

99 wenches and beer on the wall, 99 wenches and beer….

Pirate Booty

Whether you channel Jack Sparrow, Blackbeard, or Hook (you know who you are), your ultimate pirate party is here at last. Pirate Festival Los Angeles describes itself as a celebration of “rum, beer, vodka, tequila, pirates and wenches”.

And really, what else would you want to celebrate?

Your all-inclusive, all-afternoon ticket gets you all the seafaring spirits you can drink from a long, international roster of beer and liquor that includes: Hobgoblin Beer and Holy Grail Ale from the UK, Revel Stoke Spiced Whiskey from Canada, and Casa Negra Tequila from Mentidero (a.k.a. Liar’s Village), Mexico.

As a pirate, you prefer your tequila from a Liar’s Village.

The for-purchase food is  a buccaneer’s bounty of pork: Pink’s hot dogs, bacon dogs, bacon chili dogs, sausages, bacon sausages, and bacon chili sausages.

So, basically…bacon.

The pirate’s life for you (which benefits Children’s Tumor Foundation) includes entertainment by the Caribbean Pirates for Hire, musical guest Adam’s Attic, and burlesque troupe Dirty Little Secrets.

Hello, Jolly Roger….

PIRATE FESTIVAL Los Angeles – Sat, May 19th, 2-5pm (GA – $35) or 1-5pm (VIP – $65, includes souvenir glass mug); 21+ —  1010 Wilshire Blvd, LA 90017

Good thing it’s two days long….

No Baton Twirlers; Lots of Fun….

Beauty queens in convertibles not your kind of parade?  The Big Parade IV, which promenades from Angel’s Flight on Saturday to the Hollywood Sign on Sunday, incorporates art, architecture, trains, history, a movie, a river, and a solar eclipse.

So…a tad bit more active than standing on a sidewalk and waving a tiny flag.

Organized by author/avid urban walker Dan Koeppel, the FREE Big Parade perambulates over 35 miles and  up and down 101 staircases.

More of a stroller than a strider?

Koeppel has broken up the parade into five-mile segments including: a wheel-friendly Kids Loop; the Echo Park Art Walk; a guided tour of the L.A. River; a look at Angelino Heights Victorian architecture, and a public screening of Laurel and Hardy’s  The Music Box at the site where it was filmed.

And that’s just Day One.

Koeppel provides tips to access the Parade by public transportation, you can join and leave at any time, and because the point of it all is community, Koeppel promises that everyone will walk at the pace of the slowest walker.   (Creepers rejoice!)  And as if you needed further proof that this event is right and good, Koeppel has timed the walk so that paraders will see a solar eclipse as they approach the Hollywood Sign.

Ms. Go Go would not be surprised if the heavens opened and angels sang.

THE BIG PARADE IV — Prologue/Fri, May 18; Big Parade/Sat, May 19 from 8am-8:30pm (includes movie screening) & Sun, May 20the from 8am-7:30pm; FREE – For all further info: http://bigparadela.com

NOTE: Final info available on Fri, May18th.

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

May 10, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: Artistic Theater, Decadent Tea, and Comic Catharsis

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But they will tell you….

Mom’s the word this weekend, Go Go’ers, and the weekend starts tonight.   Whether Mother’s Day evokes a desire for cotton candy or confession, Ms. Go Go has you covered with plenty of events through the magical day of motherly love.

This weekend, Favored Child status will be yours.

If Mom Only Knew…

Ms. Go Go confesses: Don’t Tell My Mother! is at the top of her “Brilliant Ideas I  Wish I’d Thought Of” list.

Fox film producer Nikki Levy’s monthly storytelling show  features hand-picked comics, actors, and screenwriters who purge  share 8-10 minute stories that they’d never tell Mom.

You might be able to relate.

The DTMM! Mother’s Day Special Show features author Justin Halpern (Shit My Dad Says), actress Mary Birdsong (The Descendants, Reno 911), Drag Queen Kay Sedia (Chico’s Angels), comic Jen Kober (Treme), co!mic Shelagh Ratner (VH1) and Huffington Post writer Mara Shapshay.  To add to the forbidden, retro chic cigarette girls will be handing out Ring Pops and Pixy Stix.

Cigs and candy: early players in your “Don’t tell my mother” tales.

DON’T TELL MY MOTHER! — Thurs, May 10th, 8-10pm/$12  – (Bang) 457 N. Fairfax Ave., LA, 90036

NOTE: Online sales have closed but get to the venue early and sign up on the wait list; often, everyone gets in.

The Mother of All Storms

Want a different kind of catharsis?  Crescent City, the raucous “hyperopera” from the new, experimental opera company The Industry, features imminent hurricanes, fleeing ghosts, marauding doomsday revelers, and voodoo priestess Marie LaVeau searching for one good soul.

So, kind of like certain family functions from your childhood.

Over 50 artists from multiple disciplines have collaborated to bring the electronica-infused theatrical event to the Atwater Crossing theater  complex.  Laura Kay Swanson produces and Brianna Gorton curates with music by Anne LeBaron and a libretto by Douglas Kearney. Yuval Sharon directs the six person cast with contralto Gwendolyn Brown as the legendary LaVeau.

The innovative set is actually six artistic installations designed by six, different artists: Mason Cooley, Brianna Gorton, Katie Grinnan, Alice Könitz, Jeff Kopp and Olga Koumoundouros.   There are free guided tours of the six set installations on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 12-6 p.m.  and on Friday, May 11th, there’s a free “Meet the Artist” event from 8:00-10:00 p.m.

Finally, your “How to Design a Swamp” questions answered.  (Hint: look for artist Alice Konitz.)

Patrons can experience the production in different ways at different ticket prices.  In addition to standard seats offering views of  ”at least four of the six installations” (and video feed of the other two), attendees can choose to either: walk the perimeter of the set throughout the play;  sit in ground-level, middle-of-the-set, artist-designed bean bag chairs in the “dive bar”;  or get a “hurricane’s eye” view from the Skybox eight feet above the action.

The latter? Perfect for fulfilling Mom’s secret goddess fantasies.

CRESCENT CITY: a Hyperopera — Thurs-Sun, May 10-27, 8pm; $25–$75/12+ — Atwater Crossing, 3245 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039.

For tix: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/222549     For info: http://theindustryla.org/ 

Op-Art Mom Day

When Mom Was a Teenager

Does Mom still have her vintage Op-Art mini-skirt and Go-Go boots preserved in the closet?

Give mad props to her grooviness by treating her to tickets to Evangeline, the Queen of Make-Believe: a Sixties-era meander down a memory lane whose soundtrack is the songbook of Grammy-winners David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez of Los Lobos.  East L.A. faves Ollin do duty as the house band.

The multimedia play with music by Teresa Chavez, Rose Portillo, and Perez specifically references the culture clashes within the East Los Angeles community, including the 1968 student walkouts in East LA and the fight for equal education and civil rights, but the play strikes a universal chord about the search for identity in times of change.

Social protest, search for identity, and  Go Go dancing?  Your moms is so there.

EVANGELINE, THE QUEEN OF MAKE BELIEVE —  May 10-27, Thurs-Sat @ 7pm and Sun @ 2pm/$22 (5/10-11 previews) and $32 (5/12-27) – The Bootleg Theatre, 2220 Beverly Blvd, LA 90057, 213.389.3856

For info: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/243956622367757/
For tix: https://bootlegtheater.secure.force.com/ticket#details_a0JA000000ARlVaMAL

Decadence from Chado Tea Room & Six Taste: you know you want to….

Tea for the Modern Mom

La mere has requested a special tea for her special day but you just can’t face another afternoon of over-priced sweets in an over-stuffed room.

Luckily, your antidote to boring doesn’t have to be “Lie back and think of England”.

This Saturday, May 12th, the ever-serene Chado Tea Room and the always-innovative Six Taste food tours are partnering to host a special Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea Party. Decadence is the name of the event as well as your clue that this isn’t the Same Old Thing.  In addition to traditional fare like scones and tea sandwiches,  Decadence guests will enjoy luxe delicacies such as chocolates, pies, champagne, special tea blends, and more!

Chocolate + champagne = Mother’s Day Tea Instant Party

Six Taste further ups the fun quotient with visits from artisanal tastemakers such as Cutie Pie That and Tasty Clouds Cotton Candy Company, a jewelry showcase from Vesterie, a live tea demonstration from Chado’s tea experts, flowers, and a gift bag of sweet treats.

There won’t be a crocheted doily in sight.

DECADENCE Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea Party —  Sat, May 12th, 11am-1pm; $50 per person — Chado Tea Room (Little Tokyo),  369 E. 1st St, DTLA 90012, 888-313-0936 http://www.sixtaste.com/

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

May 4, 2012

Cinco de Mayo, Los Angeles! It’s Time to Fiesta!

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Even the dead will drink on Cinco de Mayo

It’s been seven weeks since Saint Patrick’s DayAngelenos have had an excuse for an all-city bash and while there are Cinco de Mayo drink specials all over town, Ms. Go Go’s hand-picked “cinco for Cinco” list features events with that especial something that translates as fiesta.

Stay festive, my friends.

LAS PERLAS

In addition to the year’s best Cinco de Mayo poster, Las Perlas, Downtown’s dedicated palace of mezcal and tequila is teaming up with Herradura for wallet-friendly  Cinco de Mayo revelry: $5 Margaritas, $5 Herradura Silver shots and $4 Modello Especial cans.

Julio Arenas (voted best street taco in LA by…someone) will be selling his signature fare in flavors of chicken, chorizo, carne asada, and pastor on the patio for $1.50 a taco.

That’s going to be one crowded patio.

LAS PERLAS – Sat, May 5, noon-2am; Free/21+ — 107 E 6th St, DTLA 90014; http://213nightlife.com/lasperlas

Yes, the Battle of Puebla was won with a trumpet.

THE EDISON

The dilemma: You want to celebrate the Mexican army’s victory over France but you’re damn well not doing it with a plastic margarita glass.
The solution: The ever-elegant Edison handles your Battle-of-Puebla-victory needs in the classiest way possible.

In addition to music by the Latin Jazz band Mambo Loco, the Edison is cracking open their own Private Label barrel of Casa Noble tequila, pouring $10 Margaritas and $5 Victoria beers, and serving $5 Short Rib Tacos all night.

Nothing says victorious-battle-celebration like mambo and a short rib taco.

THE EDISON – Sat, May 5th, 7pm-2am; 21+/$10 — 108 W. 2nd St, DTLA, 90012.  Reservations:  213.613.0000; http://www.edisondowntown.com/

VILLAINS TAVERN

Weather update: Cinco Saturday promises to be “mostly sunny”.   Sounds close enough to party weather to Ms. Go Go.

If you want to get a cheap, early, al fresco start to the day, Villains Tavern is a Cinco de Mayo grand slam.  From noon to 6:00 p.m., the semi-patio’d drinkery offers $2 Milagro cocktails, $2 Tecates, hand crafted Milagro punches, three bands, and a selection of great taco trucks.  Post 6pm, check out Chef Rosie’s Ceviche Tostada and VT’s killer tacos.

A word about the punches: Milagro means “miracle”.  Just saying.

VILLAINS TAVERN – Sat, May 5th, noon-2am; free/21+ — 1356 Palmetto St, DTLA, 213.613.0766; www.villainstavern.com

For those who like their Cinco pink….

TE’KILA

The tequila bar in the courtyard of the historical Jane’s House has 100+ tequilas.  An unspecified number will be used in festive Cinco cocktail specials.

So far, so good.

From 11am to 2am, Te’Kila will also have $3 Modelo Especial and draft Dos XX.  And just to make sure you stay awake ’til closing, there’s a live Mariachi performance from 9-10 pm.

Just so you can set your watch.

There are also shot girls, free gifts, and, throughout the day, pinata smashes filled with surprises.

Which basically sounds like the best birthday party EVER!

TE’KILA – Sat, May 5th, 11am- 2am; Free/21+ — 6541 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood 90028; 323. 960.2404; http://tekilahollywood.com/

FIVE0FOUR

FiveOFour may be more NOLA than Baja but the Big Easy outpost  always throws a damn good party.  And since you’re in the neighborhood (literally, the same courtyard),  you might as well check out what may very well be the best Cinco de Mayo drink prices in the city: 99 cent Coronitas, $3 pints of Pacifico, $12 pitchers of Pacifico, and most exciting, $5 Herradura shots served out of the FiveOFour ICE LUGE.

They’ve also got some food specials in the works.  Presumably not delivered by ice luge.

FIVEOFOUR — Sat, May 5th, 11am-2am; 21+/free (but RSVP)  – 6541 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028  RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/404111569621374

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….


 

May 3, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: Re-Animator (1/2 Off!), Lucha Va Voom, and the Juke Joint Gang

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El Viernes, Sexo y Violencia!

The past four months have been fun, no question.

The drinks.  The festivals.

The doughnut marathons.

But hold on to your highballs, Go Go’ers, because May Weekend Uno is a whole new level of  frenzied fun.

You’re SO ready to take it to the next level.

Life in the Splash Zone

Zombies and vampires have been dominating the living dead landscape as of late but there was a time when science trumped superstition and serum, not the supernatural, made Dons of the Dead.

Ah, the good old days.

Stuart Gordon’s 1985 movie H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator, about a scientist who wants to bring fresh meat to bring back to life — Ms. Go Go is talking about corpses, in case that wasn’t perfectly clear — became a cult classic.

It’s so easy being green.

Last year’s stage adaptation of Re-Animator the Musical featured George Wendt of Cheers  and so much fake blood the front seats were dubbed the ‘Splash Zone”.  Given these attributes, plus its cheerily macabre libretto and very animated cast, it should be no surprise that Re-Animator the Musical garnered multiple L.A. Weekly Drama Awards including “Musical of the Year”.

Even the blood got an award.  No lie.

Now bound for New York and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Re-Animator the Musical is being revived with the original cast for a short, ten-week run  starting Thursday, May 3rd at the Hayworth Theater.

GOOD NEWS!  Ms. Go Go gets you in for half off with the   code below.   Even more good news?

The Splash Zone returns as well.

RE-ANIMATOR the Musical Thurs, May 3rd – Sun, June 8th;  8pm Th, Fri & Sun and 7:30pm & 10pm on Saturday; $30-$60; Hayworth Theater, Main Stage, 2511 Wilshire Blvd., LA 90057; http://www.reanimatorthemusical.com/

1/2 off w/ discount code ”008″ Reservations:  (323) 960-4442  Online ticketing:  www.Plays411.com/reanimator

Yes, there will be chickens.

Sexo y Violencia + a Donkey Photo Booth

Go Go’ers, there’s a certain exciting holiday coming up and it’s neither Lumpy Rug Day (May 3) nor National Sea Monkey Day (May 15).

Although seriously, sea monkeys rule.

Naturalamente, Ms. Go Go will be doing a muy especiale, muy importante, muy excelente list of oh-so-divertido ideas for Cinco de Mayo. (Stay tuned, Go Go’ers.)

At this very momento, however, she’s focused solely on Quatorze de Mayo! Lucha Va Voom, that dedicated  bastion of glorious vulgarity and in-your-face excess —  in other words, Sexo y Violencia! — presents CINCO DE MAYAN: a rare Friday show at the Mayan Theater.

Saturday night is already sold out so go, go, go for Friday tix.

Expect Lucha VaVoom’s signature acts: luchadores (masked Mexican wrestlers); buxoticas (generally unmasked burlesque dancers –but you never know) and comedians. (Pee Wee Herman, Jack Black and Fred Armisen have done guest stints as ringside announcers.)

In addition to the side attractions – tamales, wrestling chicas, a conga line, and the donkey photo booth —  and the usual craziness like Chicken Luchadores, you can look forward to the debut of Mexican wrestlers Angel de Ora  and Stuka as wells as teaser Leigh Acosta’s Mexican hat dance on a pole.

It’s your very favorite kind of Mexican hat dance.

LUCHA VAVOOM — Fri, May 4th @ 8pm (7pm doors); $45/21+ — The Mayan Theater, 1038 So Hill St,
DTLA, 90015.  Tix available at Brat & Wacko & Garage Pizza downtown

It will only kind of look like this….

Cinco Without Loco

Looking for music without the mariachis?   This Saturday, songwriter Marty Axelrod (True Blood, Friday Night Lights) guest hosts Ernest Troost’s Juke Joint Gang at the Talking Stick, Venice’s hub of culture and coffee.

Hint: bring a flask of your favorite tipple to spike the latter.

Acclaimed, visiting Tall Men Group songwriters Jimmy “Muffin” Yessian, Jeff Kossack, and John Stowers open followed by Songs of Shiloh, featuring Nicole Gordon’s  shivery-beautiful voice.  Little Faith’s raise-the-roof spirituals and gospel music take care of your Saturday night prayers and Sunday church.

Just in case….

MARTY AXELROD guest hosts ERNEST TROOST’S JUKE JOINT GANG — Sat, May 5th, 8-10pm; Free/all ages — The Talking Stick, 1411c Lincoln Blvd, Venice, 90291, www.thetalkingstick.net/

Ready? U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

ON FRIDAY, MAY 4th, check out MS. GO GO’S PICKS of THE BEST OF CINCO DE MAYO!!!! 

 

April 25, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: Comedy Shorts, Grimm World, Snap Flash

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Guests at Create: Fixate’s Snap Flash All Photography Exhibit

Go Go’ers, April showers bring…wetness.  Then there will be sunshine.  The May flowers may or may not happen but the last weekend of April will.

Plan accordingly.

A Buttload of Belly Laughs

Is web-trolling for laughs your favorite activity?  Do you have the attention span of a gnat?  Have you tried to register “Funny or Die” as your preferred tombstone inscription?  (That’s All, Folks?  Taken.  Saturday Night Live?  Lawsuit-bait.  WTF?  Verboten at Hollywood Forever.)

If you nodded enthusiastically at any of the above, a) you are morbid and b) save the weekend for the Comedy Shorts Film Festival.  Actor and comedian Gary Anthony Williams (Boston Legal, Malcolm in the Middle) and Jeannie Roshar created the dedicated-to-funny fest out  of frustration after their comedy short was forced to compete in other fests against heavy-hitter films with subjects like genocide.

See this image, hope for the Apocalypse.

Hard to get a chuckle after that last one.

Williams and Roshar allegedly screened 800 entries s to come up with the 89 contenders in the four-day fest.  Selected shorts include newbie quickies as well as name brand entries from the likes of Michael Cera, Wilmer Valderrama, Margaret Cho, David Allen Greer, and  Kids in the Hall Scott Thompson whose short The Immigrant  opens the fest on Thursday.

Films will be screened in two-hour blocks with  pun-tastically Apocalypse-themed  titles like “It’s a Wrap-ture” and “Doomsday Come and Me Wanna Go Home”.  There will be parties for woo-hooers and wannabe shorts-titans can attend panels with the likes of  the legendary Buck Henry (SNL, Heaven Can Wait, Get Smart).

Ladies and gentlemen, start your shoe phones.

L.A. COMEDY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL — Thurs, April 26 – Sun, April 29 — Downtown Independent Theater, 251 So Main St, DTLA.

For sked/prices/info on Sunday street closures: http://www.lacomedyshorts.com/lacs2012new/home.html

Hopefully, they won’t fall off before you get there.

Grimm Keeper

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater is famous (infamous?) for grim productions like Urban Death.  So you’d be forgiven for expecting The Grimm World, directed by Sebastian Munoz with music by Mike Maio and costumes by L.A. Weekly Theater Awards-nominated Jeri Batzdorff, to focus on the more macabre (read “non-Disney-fied) elements of everyone’s favorite fairy tale tellers.

Cinderella’s eyeless stepsisters, anyone?

Adam Neubauer and Samantha Levenshus, who co-wrote The Grimm World, were equally intent  on staying true to the darker elements of the original tales and therefore interesting to adults while keeping the play appropriate for kids (10 and up).

Expect The Grimm World to be more high energy than high scream.

Since 2012 is the bicentennial of the brothers’ first, published  collection of tales, Grimm aficionados  will be intrigued by the playwrights’ decision to include some of the Grimms’ lesser known tales as well as iconic characters such as Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and, of course, Cinderella…

…whose stepsisters will presumably have eyes.

THE GRIMM WORLD — Fridays, April 20 – June 8 @ 8:30 p.m.; $15/10+ — Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater, 4851 Lankersham Blvd, No Hollywood, 91601.  www.zombiejoes.com

Reservations recommended as the small theater often sells out: 818.202.4120

Create: Fixate presents SNAP FLASH – All Photography Show

Snap Flash Go

Yikes.  Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) is almost over and your photography viewing needs have yet to be met.

Admittedly, your photography viewing needs are prodigious.

To give you a final fix — and MOPLA the send-off it deserves — Create: Fixate presents Snap Flash: a big Saturday bash with 40+ artists, DJs and musicians.  All mediums and styles will be represented including:  film, digital, 3D, multi-media image manipulation, and interactive.

You’re all about the interactive.

Highlights of the Optical Lounge include: prolific music video director Dean Karr (Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, the Dave Matthews Band); photographer Andrew Matusik, whose fashion work includes mind-bending surrealism;  the digitally projected 54th Hollywood International Stereo Exhibition 2012 from The LA 3-D Club; and internationally lauded video installation artist Tiffany Trenda who will be presenting her latest performance Camera Obscura: an interactive live performance piece and video installation with models, dancers, and performers that allows you, the viewer, to participate by taking a photo that will then become part of the piece online.

Ms. Go Go hopes her phone will be artistic as well as smart.

The Audio Lab (a.k.a. music portion of the evening) includes musical stylings by Garth Trinidad (KCRW), Joplin, and Space Ribbon.

Seriously.  You gotta love a Space Ribbon.

Families are welcome from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. when there will be plenty of art materials for use by young artists.  The main event, which starts at 7:00, is 21+ only.

Expect to be satiated.

CREATE:FIXATE’S SNAP FLASH — Sat, April 28, 4pm – 2am; $5-$20/21+ after 7pm —  Premiere Events Center, 613 Imperial St,  DTLA, 90021  https://www.createfixate.com/shop/createfixate-i-art-you-presale/

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

UPDATE: The updated post correctly lists “Camera Obscura” as the current piece by internationally award winning video installation artist Tiffany Trenda.

ATTENTION GO GO’ERS – U Want 2 Go Go should be arriving in your in-box on the DAY OF the first event if not before.

If your posts are significantly delayed, please let Ms. Go Go know via the Comments.  Merci beaucoup!

 

April 20, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: – Beastie Boy Art, Brokechella, and a Different Kind of Green

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B is for Brokechella? (Courtesy of Marissa Perry and Brokechella)

If you paid a gazillion dollars at Coachella last weekend, you got good music…and a Tupac hologram.

Part of that experience is unlikely to happen again.

Luckily, L.A. has fame and fests too.  And the best part?  They cost 99-100% less than Coachella.

You’ve heard of “staycation”.

Think of this weekend as “stay-stival”

So Wha’cha Want?  How About a Free Art Festival from a Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer?

Here’s the short CV for Michael Diamond:

Furniture collector.  Drummer.  Beastie Boy.  Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer.

And starting with the Friday, April 20th opening of Transmission LA: AV CLUB at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Mike D can add “museum curator” to his resume.

Just proving that there’s always room to grow.

As you might expect from a hip hop legend, the 17-day event (through May 6th) is more multimedia art/music/food happening than a stuffy collection of Old Masters and chipped statues.

Mike D’s enlisted artists like Peter Coffin, Jim Drain, Will Fowler, Benjamin Jones, Mike Mills, Takeshi Murata, Tom Sachs, and Sanford Biggers (Biggers’s awards include The Creative Time Travel Grant.) and musicians like James Murphy (formerly of LCD Soundsystem); the latter will be performing at one of the Thursday-Saturday pop-ups presented by Roy Choi (Kogi/A-Frame awesomeness) who will be offering special day-of menu surprises as well as his usual delish Korean tacos.

You can’t beat art+ tacos+ a Beastie Boy.

TRANSMISSION LA: AV CLUB — Fri, April 20th – Sun, May 6th; Free/All ages - The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA , 152 N Central Ave, DTLA

More fun, less sand.

We Are the 99%…of Fest Goers

The Tupac hologram notwithstanding, it’s hard to have a photo booth in the desert

This is only one of the reasons that you might want to attend  Brokechella, whose cheeky tag line is “In the spirit of the festival none of us could afford”.  Other reasons to fest closer to home?  Less sun, less money, less driving, equal fun.

Plus, art, Starry Kitchen, and the aforementioned photo booth.

The hometown hey-ra-ra  is being held at an expanded venue after last year’s inaugural event proved wildly popular.

Here’s your live band lineup on the  Six01 Studios Main Stage: indie rock up-and-comers Infantree, LA Font, The Dead Ships and Rumspringa and make-you-groove  pop rock from Big Moves . The Janks bring the folk, Das Tapes delivers the funk, and yOya serves up electronic melodica.

DJ’s on the outdoor stage include: Dannahan,  gLAdiator, GOJ!RA, The KiD, T.B.E (Littlefoot x Koncan X Pilo), Robin People, Smiles, and Cooper Save.

“The art behind Brokechella has been inspired by the dusky playground of the Las Vegas sign graveyard,” according to cARTel, the outfit responsible for this shindig. “Set in the remains of a once sovereign land of revelry, our music festival rages on amongst the dilapidated pieces where the party outlives the land.”

In other words, Go Go’ers, what happens at Brokechella, stays at Brokechella….

BROKECHELLA 2012 — Sat, April 21st, 4pm-2am; $5/21+ — Six01 Studios, 601 S. Anderson St, LA, 90023.  Tix and info: http://brokechella.com/

Get inside Castle Green.

Greene and Greene + Green for Earth Day

Maybe it’s Earth Day.  Maybe it’s the giddiness of spring.  Whatever the reason, Pasadena — not a town known for excess — is having not one but two behind-the-scenes home tours this weekend.

Party on, Pasadena.

You may have seen the 1898 Castle Green‘s Bridge to Nowhere off the Old Town Pasadena main drag.  This Sunday, you can walk inside it.

Built in 1898, the former hotel of choice for wintering, affluent East Coasters is offering tours of residents’ private abodes, the rooftop with a view of Pasadena, and the penthouse: once a glass-ceilinged conservatory.

Further indulging your fantasies of a life of leisure, there will be a “Light English Tea” available for purchase on the porch and you can watch (and dance with) Victorian dancers in the ballroom, with live music by the Armory Band.  The capper?  Croquet on the lawn presented by the Pasadena Croquet Club.

You love a good Earth Day croquet game.

SPRING CASTLE GREEN TOURS — Sun, April 22nd; 1-5pm; $20 pp (children under 12 are free) — Castle Green,  99 S Raymond Ave, Pasadena 91105, 626.385.7774.  For info/tix: http://www.castlegreen.com/tour/

Seduced by the sun and inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, some of those titans of industry hired the firm of Greene and Greene to build houses along the Arroyo Seco.  Sunday, April 22nd, you can get a rare peek inside five homes and one garden during the Arroyo’s Edge: Greene and Greene Interiors 2012.

So much more inspiring than the Ikea catalogue.

Tour the Duncan-Irwin house (1906-08), the Mary Ranney house (1907), F. W. Hawks house (1906), Van-Rossem Neil house (1903-06), S. Hazard Halsted house (1905-15), plus the garden of the James Culbertson house (1902-14) — all homes that are almost never open to the public.

Lookie Lous, start your engines.

ARROYO’S EDGE: GREENE AND GREENE INTERIORS 2012 — Sun, April 22nd, noon-5pm; $50-$75 — For event and ticket info: http://www.gamblehouse.org/events/arroyo.html?from=homeTOC

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

April 13, 2012

Weekend Go Go: Rock ‘n Roll Poetry, National Park Music Fest, and Return of the Grand Ole Echo

Posted by Kim Ohanneson under The Weekend Go Go | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Those are not their real bodies.

Easter is over.  Passover is past.

Go Go’ers, it’s time to get the parties started.

A certain music event in the desert just means there’s more room in L.A. for the rest of us to have fun so read on for a weekend jam-packed with music-themed events.  And if you’re really jonesing for a Coachella-like experience, a couple of the events even require sunglasses and a water bottle.

What you put in the water bottle is up to you.

You Belong Everywhere (But Come Here)

Yearning for the loud crowds and anything-can-happen edginess of a concert experience?  Start the weekend with YOU BELONG EVERYWHERE.

Already, you’re taking the affirmation to heart.

Former paratrooper and current poet  Derrick C. Brown has performed on  The Jay Leno Show, at the Sorbonne, and  all over Europe opening for indie darlings The Cold War Kids. A five-time, international poetry slam winner and an audacious, daredevil performer,  Brown is determined to help poetry achieve rock ‘n roll status.

This is what happens when you repeatedly  jump out of a plane.

Filmmaker Stephen Latty (Drums Inside Your Chest) followed Brown around Europe and captured the poet wrangling crowds into silence with the  sheer power of his words.

European crowds require serious wrangling.

The resulting film  You Belong Everywhere, produced by actress/fellow poet Amber Tamblyn, will get its only full-length, L.A. screening to date (with post-screening Q & A) tonight, Friday, April 13th, at the Echo Park Film Center at 8:00 p.m.  L.A. phenom poet Brendan Constantine sets the mood.

Parachute optional.

YOU BELONG EVERYWHERE w/Brendan Constantine — Fri, April 13 @ 8:00 pm; $8 — Echo Park Film Center,  1200 No Alvarado St, LA, (213) 484-8846;  Click here for TIX

Check out Ms. Go Go’s  interview with the highly entertaining Brown and Latty.

A Music Fest in an Old West Town

Must hear music in the Great Outdoors?  Yearning for  a more intimate concert experience?

Determined to use your pup tent?

Head to the Mentryville Music Fest to be held in Mentryville Park: a former oil boom/Old West town   in Santa Clarita.  Part of The Natural Stage Project, which aims to bring “folk music into the forests, parks and mountains of SoCal”, the event features over a dozen bands,  like The Carrions (from Cheryl Lindsey of The Breeders and Exene Cervenka’s band) and Death to Anders (think Pavement and the Pixies),  that will redefine your perception of folk music.

All this and an oil well.

MENTRYVILLE MUSIC FEST — Saturday, April 14, 11am – ?; $5 for parking — Mentryville  Park, Newhall/Santa Clarita.  Info and directions 

There will be so much fun here.

Return of the Grand Ole Echo

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, (you know who you are), you’ve probably heard about CicLAvia, which opens up streets on the Eastside of L.A. for walking, biking, triking, and playing.

So far, a good Sunday.

Here’s where Sunday gets great.  After you’ve tootled around warming up your dancing legs, head over to the Echo for the sixth season kick-off of the Grand Ole Echo: Americana queen Kim Grant’s festival of all things rootsy.

And all things swell.

The season’s inaugural line-up includes: Old Californio, which has been touring after the release of their much-touted album Sundrunk Angels, Afro-inspired Nearly Beloved , twisted backwoods music from Walter Spencer, and the debut of Red Carnations from Jeremy Little, whose songs have been featured on numerous films and T.V. shows.

No dust, plenty of parking, maximum fun.

GRAND OLE ECHO — Sun, April 15th from 5:30-9pm/FREE/All ages- The Echo, 1154 Glendale Blvd, LA 90026 , 213.413. 8200, www.attheecho.com

Ready?  U Know U Want to Go Go….

 

April 11, 2012

You Belong Everywhere – A Chat with Poet Derrick C. Brown & Filmmaker Stephen Latty – UPDATE

Posted by Kim Ohanneson under Go Go Here | Tags: , , , , , , |
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Derrick Brown x 9

Update!  The time of  YOU BELONG EVERYWHERE screening has been changed

“You are a poet, invited on tour by a popular rock band.  Europe!!  There will be large audiences.  They might be drunk.  They might get loud.  They might not understand English.  It’s the opportunity of a lifetime…. Now what?” (From the press release for You Belong Everywhere.)

If you are Derrick C. Brown — electrifying performance poet, former 82nd Airborne Paratrooper, President of Write Bloody Publishing, and one of America’s top five poets according to National Poetry Slam founder Marc Smith — you invite your friend, documentary and commercial filmmaker Stephen Latty (Drums Inside Your Chest) to document your career-defining tour  opening for Cold War Kids.

Smart choice.  The result, You Belong Everywhere, is a compelling, dynamic, you’ll-laugh-and-cry, rock ‘n roll poetry concert film.

And just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month!

The film, which is produced by actress and fellow poet Amber Tamblyn, screens this Friday, April 13th at 8:00 p.m. at the Echo Park Film Center with a performance by L.A. poet Brendan Constantine.

There will also be a Q&A with Derrick and Stephen after the Echo Park Film Center screening of  You Belong Everywhere.  After reading the artists’ immensely  entertaining interview below, conducted by email during the hustle and bustle of the tour,  you’ll want to see You Belong Everywhere and ask them more questions yourself.

Hilarity may ensue.

 Ms. Go Go: Stephen, you’ve written that “It is a really interesting time for poetry. Young poets are starting to be able to make a living as poets – not as musicians, or screenwriters, or greeting card writers, or insurance salesmen, but as poets.”  Derrick, do you agree and if so, why do the two of you think poetry is becoming a viable way to make a living?

Stephen Latty: When I first met Derrick, he was in his early thirties working at a small production company making Sunday school videos for kids – very weird and very funny Sunday school videos. The strangeness he brought to it was fantastic…gigantic hot dog men in space talking about God and telling bible stories with dead fish.

Stuff like that.  He was definitely pushing the envelope in that medium, which I didn’t even know was possible. Anyway, the job seemed pretty ideal – I think it paid okay and he was able to take off for months at a time to do poetry shows around the country. So when he quit that job, I had a feeling poetry was becoming something much more sustainable for him, otherwise I think he’d still be doing it. There’s nothing like slightly warping children’s minds. I should mention that Derrick introduced me to other poets who also make a living writing and touring as poets – Beau Sia, Mindy Nettifee, Mike McGee, Buddy Wakefield…those are just the people I know pretty well as friends. The list Derrick could give would be a lot longer. The only reason it seems to me that poetry is becoming a viable way to make a living is that I see these poets doing it. I admire them all. I believe in that fight to make a living doing what you want to do.

Derrick C. Brown: It is not as viable as advertising for cruise ships, prestidigitation or even mowing lawns. But it is more possible than ever to use the rock and roll model to hit the road, sell t-shirts off your fancy website, offer to perform weddings, work with orchestra’s etc. It all depends how disciplined and organized an artist can be.

MGG: What did you think was going to be the biggest challenge about making YBE and what actually was the biggest challenge?
(more…)

 

April 6, 2012

The Weekend Go Go: Chocolate Drops, Invisible Bunnies, and a Paratrooper Poet.

Posted by Kim Ohanneson under The Weekend Go Go | Tags: , , , , , |
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String theory (Courtesy of the Carolina Chocolate Drops)

It’s a sweet weekend, no question, and Ms. Go Go is not talking about  Manischewitz and marshmallow Peeps.

She is talking about subversive rabbits and serious ear candy.

Step away from the jelly beans, Go Go’ers, step away from the jelly beans .

Chocolate for Your Ears

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are  an old-time string band — think banjo, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, snare drum, jug and kazoo — whose members learned much of their repertoire, which is based on the traditional music of the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina, from the eminent African American old-time fiddler Joe Thompson.

Think music that’s revitalized not resuscitated.

Or as band member Rhiannon Giddens says, “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer.”  (You hate your kazoos in handcuffs.)

The trio-turned-quartet Grammy winners (for Old Negro Jig) will be at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Friday, April 6th at 8pm to celebrate the release of their newest album Leaving Eden,  which has original compositions, covers, and traditional songs.  Special guest David Wax Museum opens.

Your Good Friday just got great.

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS — Fri, April 6 @ 8pm; $15 – $50 — Royce Hall, UCLA (North Campus), 340 Royce Drive, LA 90095

For info/tix: http://www.uclalive.org/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=151

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a poet.

A Poet in a Bar

Fun fact from Ms. Go Go:

April is National Poetry Month.

And Go Go’ers, while you weren’t looking, poetry got hip again with performance poetry and Poetry Slams and rock concerts.

Yes, rock concerts.

Poet Derrick C. Brown is one of the country’s five best poets according to Poetry Slam founder Marc Smith.  He’s also is a former 82nd Airborne paratrooper.

Which has to serve him in good stead when he opens up a vein of words on stage.

Get a double dose of Brown’s jaw-dropping performances at Bootleg Bar Saturday, April 7th at 8pm.  The poet will read from his newest book Strange Light, a 40 minute poem commissioned by prestigious Dutch dance troupe Noord Danse Collective.  In addition to the book release party and music by Caught a Ghost, there will be a mini-screening of YOU BELONG EVERYWHERE, filmmaker Stephen Latty’s rock ‘n roll poetry film about Brown  opening for Cold War Kids on a recent European tour.

Dive out of that plane.

DERRICK C. BROWNE/Strange Light/YOU BELONG EVERYWHERE– Sat, April 7th @8pm; $10/21+ – Bootleg Bar, 2220 Beverly Blvd, LA 90026;  213. 389.3856;  For info: http://www.bootlegtheater.org   For tix: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/102291

That's a big bunny.

Pesky Wabbits

If you’re the kind of person who takes secret delight in chomping off the heads of chocolate bunnies, you’ll want to plan your Easter dinner around the Harvey/Donnie Darko Sunday night double-feature at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica.  The former features Everyman Jimmy Stewart: the only person who can see the time-traveling, eponymous bunny Harvey.  The latter stars Jake Gyllenhaal whose visions of terrifying, big bunny Frank save his life and may or may not mean he’s crazy.

SO much more fun than Paas-dyed eggs.

HARVEY & DONNIE DARKO – Sun, April 8th @ 7:30pm; $11 – Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica 90403; 310.260.1528 | Website

Ready?  U Know U Want 2 Go Go….

 

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