WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?
For it to get really bad? That will be the call to arms? Better turn your ringer up. That call went out a while ago.
People here legally are being snatched off the street by armed men wearing masks, and “disappeared.” Journalists sued for billions. A U.S. Congress member arrested and charged while performing her sworn duty of oversight at an immigrant detention center. One of Trump’s first acts was to fire the 17 Inspector Generals charged with oversight and finding fraud and waste in government, billions every year. But now we have Elon now, and his chainsaw, as he merrily drains all our personal data and protects his multi-$B government contracts. The mayor of Newark was arrested and detained by ICE just for showing up at their detention center, while on public property. 13,700,000 of the poorest Americans, mostly elderly, children and disabled, are about to be forced off medical coverage and blocked from buying it on the open market (yes, cruelty is the point). You can no longer get updated COVID vaccinations. Measles, pretty much eliminated for decades by a safe, effective vaccine, has now gone epidemic, yes blame nut job Health czar RFK Jr.. 27 dead from one horrible huge tornado because residents got only 20 seconds warning, because of massive layoffs at the US weather bureau.
HYPERBOLE? PARTISAN RHETORIC?
Get real. Maybe you’re not paying attention, maybe you are in deep denial, you decide. But every body is needed, right now, men and women, young and old. If I lost you to eye rolling on that partial list of fast fading democracy from the last 125 days, you have become part of the problem.
You can’t wait until your dad loses his government job after 25 years, until your grandma gets kicked out of her assisted living home for lack of Medicaid, until your friend from university disappears for saying the wrong thing. You snooze, we all lose.
ART ATTACK
But this is an arts column, and that is already hitting home in Southern Cal. The Jazz Bakery is forced to have a fundraiser May 31 (great show, y’all go: jazz pianist Monty Alexander), Venice literary center Beyond Baroque has also had its NEA grant pulled, as has Tim Robbins’ boundary-breaking The Actors’ Gang in Culver City, PBS and NPR are defunded, and a lot more. The culture war has gone nuclear and none will be spared.
It’s standard procedure for would-be dictators: divide the people and get them fighting each other (and control the media, fight judges, even arrest some, diminish education and critical thinking, establish your “brown shirts” thug enforcers/ICE to do the violent, armed dirty work) while you gild your throne. The arts encourage creativity and self-expression, and the understanding that we are all at our human core the same, with a diversity that is precious. People just want to be free, girls just want to have fun, mind your own business and let us have Elmo and Ken Burns, thank you.
At a loss, what can I do? Support the arts like crazy, contribute as best you can, and participate. SMC Emeritus has a fantastic art class, by zoom, for all levels, with truly gifted, very supportive teacher Jesse Benson. A lovely group gathers once a week at Virginia Park to sing Latin American folk songs. Our treasured Ruskin Group Theatre at the airport is trying to make the move to a bigger, better space and needs support. Get creative, and get moving.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
GERSHWIN, Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” LA PHIL – Don’t be fooled, ye less than seasoned classical music dabblers, because you don’t see a “major” name here, a Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms,Vivaldi. Richard Strauss was a heavyweight of the late Romantic turning into modern German school, often thrown into discussions along with Mahler and Wagner. Not to be confused with the Austrian Strausses, who danced up the charts with the “Blue Danube” and hundreds more waltzes and polkas. Director Stanley Kubrick was probably holding his breath hoping no one else would grab the cinematic opening movement of Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra” because it turned out to be iconic for his “2001: A Space Odyssey.” If you’ve never heard the rest of the composition, you are in for a major treat. Gershwin -- years ago I wondered, why is he considered a “classical” composer by some? And now he is one of my favorites. Nothing tops “Rhapsody in Blue” for me, but this “Concerto in F” comes pretty close, and you hear in it echoes of “Rhapsody.” Featured pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet fell in love with it at 14 and has been playing it for four decades. Those are the kinds of soloists the LA Phil attracts. Opening on the last two performances is Caroline Shaw’s “The Observatory,” an LA Phil commission that was inspired by a night at Griffith Observatory, looking at the shapes of the lit city below and the stars above. Who needs Beethoven? Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $50-249.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9-11:30, for almost 14 years now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free.
RECOMMENDED:
TOLEDO DIAMOND – His decades-long Sunday night residency at Santa Monica’s Harvelle’s, the oldest blues bar in LA (almost a century!), is a treasure that you shouldn’t assume will always be there. Toledo choreographs (literally) a truly unique show, a blend of ‘50s hipster jazz and his dancing dames and a most modern smokin’ hot band that gets better all the time. Every Sunday 9:30 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $12.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): GERSHWIN, “Also Sprach Z,” LA PHIL, Disney, 5/23, 24; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s, 5/25, 6/1, 8, 15, 22, 29; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar, 5/26, 6/3, 10, 17, 24; LOVE, Echo, 5/31; RICKY GERVAIS, Hwd Bowl, 5/31; LA OPERA’s “RIGOLETTO,” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 5/31, 6/8, 12, 15, 18, 21; TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE, Greek, 6/8.
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended): PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT’s “H.M.S. PINAFORE,” Heritage Square Museum Lawn, 6/13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22; BLUE NOTE JAZZ FEST Day 2, GRACE JONES, STANLEY CLARKE N.4EVER, others, Hwd Bowl, 6/15; RHIANNON GIDDENS, STEVE MARTIN, others, Hwd Bowl, 6/18; LYLE LOVETT & HIS LARGE BAND, Orpheum, 6/20; MAKE MUSIC DAY, global, 6/21; GETTY VILLA MUSEUM reopens, Pacific Palisades, 6/27; DAN NAVARRO, McCabe’s, 6/28; JOHN FOGERTY, Hwd Bowl, 7/6; PAUL SIMON, Disney, 7/7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16; ALISON KRAUS, UNION STATION, Greek, 7/13; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin, 7/13, 8/10, 9/14, 10/12, 11/9, 12/14; BRAHMS, GRIEG, LA PHIL, Hwd Bowl, 7/17; GERSHWIN, DVOŘÁK, LA PHIL, Hwd Bowl, 7/22; “THE PLANETS,”, LA PHIL, Hwd Bowl, 7/24; DAVE ALVIN, JIMMY DALE GILMORE, McCabe’s, 7/25, 26, 27;
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 39 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Not even Kauai. Send love and/or hate mail to: [email protected]
