DOGGONE ROCK!
DOGGONE ROCK!
It's strangely comforting, in these increasingly conservative times, to watch a five-foot rocker girl play loud music and smash her guitar on Hollywood Boulevard while you enjoy a tasty hot dog.
Skooby's Hot Dogs on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has taken an old theater front and turned it into a rock 'n' roll scene. Featuring three local bands performing live outdoors every Saturday night, “Skooby's After Dark” is bringing the noise to hot dog eaters and Hollywood cruisers.
According to Skooby's co-owner John Hooper, the idea came from his love of music and desire to support his staff of aspiring rock stars. To realize his vision, Hooper enlisted friend Allana Lin, lead singer of L.A. band Fascinoma and now Skooby's artistic director. Among the acts she booked the first night was American Placebo, a “Skooby band” featuring two of the stand's staff members.
Set underneath the awning of a neighboring theater that now serves, amusingly, as a church, Hooper, who opened the doggery in 2003 with his brother Stephen, constructed a half-foot, rug-covered stage. Only caution tape and a few feet of space separate the audience from the groups. “The performers have this extra level of energy in them that they only get [playing outdoors]. It's very different from a closed environment of a club,” he says. In addition, money can't buy this amount of exposure. “[The bands] don't have to promote themselves, because people are just automatically in Hollywood on Saturday nights,” Lin enthuses, referring to the diverse demographic meandering the boulevard. In fact, this rock 'n' roll sideshow, near the site of former '70s punk palace the Masque, is on a block you might otherwise walk while looking over your shoulder. “We're bright and we're loud and we're adding this vibrant activity to the neighborhood!” exclaims Hooper.
Concerts are scheduled every Saturday for the next four months. If all goes well, there's talk of a bigger, brighter Skooby to-do with a larger stage and even more bands each night. But, according to Lin, it's the up-and-coming, “organic community thing” that remains the prime directive. Rock is street again, this time with grilled onions and a side of fries.
–Kate Petre
Skooby's After Dark. Skooby's Hot Dogs, 6654 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 468-3647. Sats. 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Free. Skoobys.com.
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THIS WEEK IN THE CITY
Thursday 14
FIGHT FLICKS, BIG HITS
Boxing movies are big again, thanks to Mr. Eastwood and his (several) million-dollar, Oscar-winning Baby. Craving something a little (but just a little) more interactive? Tonight, the American Cinematheque is screening Scorsese's classic Raging Bull. Come early, however, for the get-you-pumped pre-show in the courtyard featuring Mickey Jones, a boxing coach and former National Golden Gloves champion, who'll give a boxing demonstration with some of his trainees. The film is showing as part of the series “It Was 25 Years Ago … The Films of 1980,” but the demo is all about our current passion for pugilism (at least on film). 7:30 p.m.; film at 8 p.m. $9. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 466-3456. Egyptiantheatre.com.
Friday 15
2 A TEE
Speaking of fights, thoughtful ones continue for Clothing of the American Mind, the local clothing company that knocked our socks off last year with its politically inspired, deliciously progressive jersey tees. Tonight, in conjunction with the Global Week of Action to promote international fair trade, the company is hosting “Fashion 4 Change,” an evening of fashion, shopping, comedy, DJ music, and dancing (plus refreshments and snacks!). Check out the new line of products, enter the raffle, and help low-income, product-manufacturing communities around the world get a better deal out of all their hard work. 7:30 p.m.-midnight. $5 donation; $10 includes two drink tickets. Central American Resource Center, 2845 W. Seventh St., downtown L.A. Info: Cotam.org.
Saturday 16
PACK IT IN
Get down today to downtown L.A., because there's a lot of arty, smarty, and party things happening. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Selah Artistic Giving Center launches FAB Market, a free monthly outdoor gallery/street festival on Santa Fe Avenue between East Third and Fourth streets. From noon to 5 p.m., the Transport Gallery (1308 Factory Pl., 213-623-4099) holds a free closing party for Christina McPhee's remarkable multimedia work in Carrizo-Parkfield Diaries. Then, spring forward to the Spring Arts Tower (453 S. Spring St.) for the 18th installment of “The Optical Lounge and Audio Lab” with five rooms of multimedia art and “unz, unz” DJ tracks from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. ($10; $7 before 9 p.m.). Know the new hot code: 90013. Selahagc.org; Transportgallery.com; Createfixate.com.
Sunday 17
POEMS AND THE CITY
What's more poetic than our city's cultural diversity? Since 1995, the Arroyo Arts Collective has been hosting juried poetry competitions in which 25 to 30 poems by Southern California writers are translated into different languages, printed on posters, and displayed in the windows of small businesses along Figueroa Street in Highland Park. Today the organization is having a party to celebrate its first publication, the anthology Open Windows: Selections from the Winners of Poetry in Windows, 1995-2003, Translated into the Languages of Los Angeles. That means Spanish, Armenian, Korean, Yiddish, Farsi, and Tagalog, among others. 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Free. The Acorn Gallery, 135 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park, (323) 850-8566. Arroyoartscollective.org.
Monday 18
PLAY THE FIELD
Making multicultural musical poetry is Gabriel Rosati, the Italian-Brazilian trumpeter, valve trombonist, singer, composer, and arranger who's been praised by jazz, classical, and pop fans and critics alike for his Afro-Cuban-Brazilian rhythms. Tonight, the talented player will hold a public workshop at Cal State L.A. ambitiously titled, “A Professional Perspective of History, Techniques & Nomenclatures for All Instruments and Levels.” Even if you don't play an instrument, this is a great opportunity to see a fascinating and creative performer at work. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Free. Music Building, Band Room, 5151 State University Dr., downtown L.A. Info: (323) 343-4060.
Tuesday 19
BOURNE TO BE WILD
We know he has a flair for innovative dance, but how about drama? Matthew Bourne, the man who brought us radical reinterpretations of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker ballets, has now reworked something entirely different: a classic, creepy film. Joseph Losey's 1963 masterpiece The Servant, about a manservant who, shall we say, complicates, the lives of the couple who employs him, is the inspiration for Bourne's latest choreographic achievement, Play Without Words. This tale of sinister seduction carries an original jazz score by Terry Davies, and is scheduled to run Tuesdays through Sundays until May 29. Call for performance schedule. $30-$85. Music Center, Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., (213) 628-2772. Taperahmanson.com.
Wednesday 20
WEYLER'S WAY
Earth Day is on the way! How you gonna celebrate? Recycle your trash? Plant a tree? Walk to the store instead of drive? Get motivated by attending tonight's talk by Rex Weyler, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, environmental and human rights historian, and cofounder of Greenpeace International. Weyler, who recently published the book Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World, will be speaking about his own experiences trying to protect our ecology in the face of multiple interest groups, and how we, too, can rally the public and media to “greener” pastures. 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Donation. L.A. Greens at the L.A. Peace Center, 8124 W. Third St., L.A., (323) 651-5539. Losangelesgreens.com.Published: 04/14/2005
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