Highly Recommended
Tonight — Kraftwerk — This is unprecedented. The German pioneering electronic music group are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their immortal Autobahn with a series of nine consecutive concerts at Disney Hall, each one covering one of their albums plus other material, ending in a final concert that covers it all. How will it stand up? Dated? With where electronic music has gone in that time? I think it will sound great and give us an appreciation for how much they said with their minimalist approach. Nine shows — you’ve got to be there for at least one. I will. Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, Tues, Wed, next Thurs 8pm, Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $69-109.
Tonight — John McEuen — If you are old enough, or musically curious, you know him as part of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the ‘70s, based in country and bluegrass but turning out some memorable “pop” hits (“Mr. Bojangles,” “House at Pooh Corner’’). But they demonstrated their bona fides in 1972 when they rounded up the absolute cream of country and bluegrass, put them in a circle, and recorded a three-album set of standards, done royally, “Will the Circle be Unbroken.” The rest of the NGDB drifted into obscurity after the band dissolved but McEuen soldiered on, because he was religious about the music, and an undeniably gifted multi-instrumentalist. So now you get to experience the layered history he has accumulated, in intimate McCabe’s, in good ol’ Santa Monica. Aren’t we fortunate? Fri 8pm, McCabe’s, Santa Monica.
Unsavory Fellow, Nick James, Ruskin Group Theatre — This one-man play by James completely sold out a month just recently at the Santa Monica Playhouse, so why would the Ruskin people think they should squeeze it in another two weekends, with almost no publicity? For one thing, Producing Artistic Director Mike Myers collaborated with James on the first part, and they planned to launch it at the Ruskin, but other commitments interfered. “I just think it’s so good, I wanted us to have even a little piece of it,” grinned Myers. I guess it was both a wise business and artistic decision, because I went to the first night and they had to bring in extra chairs. But Myers misled me a little when he wrote in an email that this was one of the funniest shows he had ever seen. It does have some top end laughs, but I came away much more embedded with the pathos, and the courage of James’s unforgettable storytelling. Not only the acting, but the writing too. I wrote recently in a column that it takes real courage to be completely honest when you put yourself out to the public. This may not be entirely a faithful autobiography, but he certainly didn’t whitewash much. And it is so Santa Monica. Locals will time travel. American professor and author Brene Brown, known for her work on shame and vulnerability, put it well: “Owning our story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.” This is so worth experiencing for so many reasons, but you have only three more performances. Fri, Sat 8pm, Sat 4pm, Ruskin Group Theatre, Santa Monica Airport, $20-30.
LA Opera, Turandot – My schedule prevents me from seeing this sooner, so how can I give it the vaunted Highly Recommended? Put it this way: when the game is on the line, do you put the ball in LeBron James’s hands, or Jalen Hood-Schifino? And what if you made the hoop expand every time James shot? Guar-an-teed. Not the best metaphor maybe, but I think you get the picture. This is must-see for anyone who has ears for music and singing, and eyes for art, gigantic art, inspired art. This is often called the grandest of grand opera, and the music is the great Puccini’s last work, the singing and acting, as always, will be top notch, and the set — I usually make that a last point, but in this case, some are going first and foremost for the staging. The Brit who explains LA to us, at 86 now the highest paid artist in the world, has possibly outdone himself, after three decades of designing opera sets, to make us reimagine this classic story set in China. Get rid of those dragons! Turandot is LA Opera’s most popular production over the years, and it sounds like this may top them all. Sun 2pm, next Thurs 7:30pm, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $324-374 (hey! — there are 120 performers on stage, those costumes and Hockney’s magnificent set — pay the piper!)
Hot Club of Los Angeles — You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday, 9–11:30pm, for more than a decade now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure, just over the border from Santa Monica. Mon 9pm, Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
Recommended
Toledo Diamond — Unique, riveting, first class act. There’s nothing like it, it is high performance art and great decadent fun. Degeneracy is rarely so well disciplined. And the band is smokin’! Don’t. Miss. Toledo Diamond. Sun 9:30pm, Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $12.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also Recommended) Kraftwerk, Disney Hall, 5/23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30; Unsavory Fellow, Ruskin Group Theatre, 5/24, 25; LA Opera, Turandot, 5/26. 30, 6/2. 5, 8; Toledo Diamond, Harvelle’s, 5/26; Hot Club of Los Angeles, Cinema Bar, 5/27; John McEuen, McCabe’s, 5/24; Dan Navarro, McCabe’s, 6/8; Tedeschi Trucks Band, Little Feat, Greek, 6/9; Library Girl, Ruskin Theatre, 6/9; Doobie Brothers, Kia Forum, 6/23; Chris Stapleton, Hollywood Bowl, 6/26, plus Grace Potter 6/27; Rolling Stones, Sofi Stadium, 7/10, 13; Dwight Yoakam, Mavericks, Greek, 7/27; Lake Street Dive, Greek, 7/27; UB40, Greek, 7/31; Mavis Staples, Norah Jones, Greek, 8/4; Hives, Foo Fighters, BMO Stadium, 8/9.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 38 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else.