U Want 2 GoGo

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….

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….

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….

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….

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!!!!