July 10, 2008
By Ron Garmon
Thursday 10
Roll with It
The merry highbrows over at Esotouric (your four-wheeled encyclopedia of L.A. history and mystery) tonight roll out the Hippodrome, the self-described “official free shuttle of downtown’s Art Walk” for its second round at the popular downtown event. The shuttle tours the court, featuring readings, live music and conversation curated by art maven Kim Cooper, whose skill at directed meditation once gave me an out-of-body experience. This mobile salon rolls from 6 to 10 p.m. and is named for the long-defunct Hippodrome Theater on 4th and Main, at one time the largest indoor performance space west of the Mississippi. 5th & Main Streets, downtown L.A. Free. esotouric.com.
Friday 11
Murder by Sondheim
There’s a special fascination in our popular imagination for slayers of the eminent, a curious tic of democracy worked to the dagger’s hilt by Stephen Sondheim in Assassins, his famously sardonic 1991 musical staged by the West Coast Ensemble set to open at the El Centro Theater tonight. See the fun-loving likes of Leon Czolgosz, Squeaky Fromme and Lee Harvey Oswald, each with gun in hand, but a song in their hearts. The El Centro Theater, 804 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood. $34. elcentrotheater.com.
Saturday 12
Mani, Pani, Padme, Say Cheese!
The art-party crowd will be out in force for “Backscatter II,” the latest happening from the aesthetic obsessionists over at Create:Fixate. This show’s theme is “the basic meditative practice of awareness,” as explored through the work of 35 photographers, including such Siddharthas of the lens as Tait Simpson and Sam Commen. As is usual with C:F events, there will be an “audio” component, including breakbeats and digital R&B from the likes of Aloe Blacc, DJ Buck, Kenneth Graham and more. Art show, 4-7 p.m., party 7 p.m.-2 a.m. Lot 613/Premiere Events Center, 613 Imperial St., downtown. createfixate.com.
Sunday 13
Go Brand Yourself
Looking for ever more creative and rewarding ways to talk about yourself? Film Industry Network (FIN) will teach you how to promote with the very best of ’em, with proven flackologists imparting time-tested methods of buzzmanship to acolytes eager to break into the glamorous and exciting world of publicity. You too can be the necessary talent behind every rock 'n' roll band after this panel presentation. Hairpiece and halitosis optional. 3-6 pm, the Atrium Meeting Room at Sony Century Plaza, 10000 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City. $10 for members, $15 for non-members. filmindustrynetwork.com.
Monday 14
Lows in the High ’80s
You can just bet your sweet Spicoli my New Wave Baby backside will occupy a rickety seat at tonight’s showing of the Reagan Age fantasy double-bill of Labyrinth and Xanadu at the New Beverly Cinema. Or Sunday or Tuesday for you lone gunmen out there in Sondheim-land. The first movie was the sword & sorcery third feature by Muppet auteur Jim Henson (a director with his fist up many a famous backside) and the second a memorably daft 1980 musical featuring roller disco, Olivia Newton-John as a muse, and Gene Kelly’s winning delivery of the line, “I don’t have to pretend. It is 1945 all over again.” Don’t expect an audience full of cineastes – well, not sober ones in any event. 7:30 & 9:35 p.m., 7165 W. Beverly Blvd., Los
Angeles. newbevcinema.com.
Tuesday 15
Free Melvins!
Coldplay might be playing the Forum tonight and Rusted Root the House of Blues, but the robusto wartime economy (thanks, Dubya!) will turn many a broke-ass rocker’s thin-soled feets in the direction of Amoeba Music and the free show by revered sludge-punx The Melvins. These twisted darlings have a new album out on Ipecac titled Nude with Boots and odds are very long they’ll play selections from it, perhaps along with such easy-listening favorites as “Spread Eagle Beagle,” and “Up the Dumper” as well as the customary assortment of bleeps and gargles. 6 p.m. 6400 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. amoebamusic.com.
Wednesday 16
Circus! Circus!
Tonight, the 138th Edition of “The Greatest Show on Earth” rolls into Staples Center as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus returns to Los Angeles. Thrill to magical top hats, airborne dogs, hopping elephants, Bengal tigers, high-riding Cossacks, a speeding Globe of Steel and the gravity-mocking aerial feats of the Flying Caceres. The circus will be in town through July 20. $15-$95. 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown. ringling.com.
Published: 07/09/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
