What a packed line-up! I was going to whine about youtube now forcing you to listen to commercials, to make you pay to subscribe, but there’s so much going on I’m going to have to keep even the descriptions below to a minimum. Have fun!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“DEATH OF A SALESMAN” by ARTHUR MILLER starring ROB MORROW (Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play from the brilliant Arthur Miller), Thurs-Fri-Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $20-$35.
RECOMMENDED:
TONIGHT!/ENDS TONIGHT! — “YESTERDAY” (a lot of fun), Thurs only, The Landmark, West LA; Fri-?, Ahrya Fine Arts, Beverly Hills;
TONIGHT! — “PAVAROTTI” (a reliable source said I must see it), Thurs-?, Music Hall, Beverly Hills;
TONIGHT! — “ECHO IN THE CANYON” (another first-person account of rock and roll history, of and by the creative denizens of Laurel Canyon), Thurs-?, Monica Film Center, SM;
TONIGHT! — “DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME” (coaxes Crosby of The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash and CSN & Young into unflinching candor as he confronts mortality and assesses the damage of earlier days with a redemptive journey back to music), Thurs-?, The Landmark, W LA.
WILL GEER’S THEATRICUM BOTANICUM presents “THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH” (set in WWII-era New Jersey and the Ice Age — !! — Thornton Wilder used humor, history and mythology, it’s oblique, mysterious, confusing, thought-provoking and wonderful and he acknowledges it with his trademark knocking down the fourth wall with lines like, “… that is the DUMBEST line I have ever had to speak in a play!”), Sun, 4 p.m. and various Fri-Sat-Sun through Sept. 29, Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $10-$42;
“AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” (check my previous CURIOUS CITY column for some description of this excellently acted, thought-provoking adaptation by Artistic Director Ellen Geer of a classic Ibsen about… a poisoned water supply, and racial tensions, topical enough for ya?), Sun 8 p.m. and various Fri-Sat-Sun through Sept. 28, W.G.’s T. Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $10-$42.
“MOBY DICK-REHEARSED” (based on Orson Welles’ 1955 adaptation of the novel, it sounds like it requires a lot of “acting,” no whales, no ship — cool!), various Fri-Sat-Sun through Sept. 29, T. Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $10-$42;
“TWELFTH NIGHT” (they’re known for their mastery of The Bard), various Fri-Sat-Sun through Sept. 28, W.G.’s Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $10-$42;
“A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM” (sure you’ve seen it a bunch, you were probably in it in school, but never by this troupe and never here, where you don’t have to imagine a forest from painted cardboard), Thursdays in Aug, also Sept. 2, W.G.’s TB, Topanga Canyon, $10-$42.
TY SEGALL & Freedom Band (it’s been a while since I’ve caught Mr. Segall, he is a ridiculously talented axe man but he goes his own way so his shows are a bit of a gamble but hell, life’s a gamble, right?), Fri 9 p.m., and every Fri in Aug-Sept, Teragram Ballroom, DTLA, $30-$200.
PETER ASHER & ALBERT LEE (Asher went from child actor to Brit ‘60s hitmakers Peter & Gordon to A&R for The Beatles to managing big names to high-profile record exec and has a million great stories besides his delightful music, and Lee is simply one of the best pickers of strings you will ever hear), Fri, Sun 8 p.m., $32.50; PAUL BARRERE & FRED TACKETT (half of longtime Little Feat, from “Dixie Chicken” on though neither was an original, they now perform that catalog and their own work as an acoustic guitar/mandolin duo and that should be well worth hearing), Sat 8 p.m., $35; McCabe's, SM.
SURF GUITAR 101 CONVENTION (can you stand over 12 hrs of surf guitar, or does it sound like heaven…), Sat 11 a.m., Alpine Village Restaurant, Torrance, $40.
THE RECORD COMPANY, ZZ Ward (I really, really like The Record Company), Sat 7 p.m., Pershing Square, DTLA, free.
JOHN BATISTE (damn fine band you see every night on Stephen Colbert’s show, now see what they can really do), Sat 7 p.m., Burton Chase Park, MdR, free.
JAZZ ON THE LAWN (with Afrobeat GliFoS), Sunday 5 - 7 p.m. (dance lesson at 4:30pm), Gandara Park, SM, free.
MCCABE’S AT LAEMMLE (pop-up celebration of all things guitar, vocal and other choice instruments, sample McCabe’s students and teachers’ wit and wisdom, memorable music), Sun 11 A.M., Monica Film Center, DTSM, free.
Cécilia Tsan and THE LYRIS QUARTET (don’t know cellist Tsan, love The Lyris, Schubert’s String Quintet in C major in this lofty venue, you’ll be telling all your friends), Sun 3, 5 p.m., Mt. Wilson Observatory, LA, $50
B-52s, OMD, BERLIN (‘nuff said, the B-52s, 40 years in, are still sooo good), Sun 9 p.m., Microsoft Theater, DTLA, $50-$95.
BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, Iván Fischer, conductor, with LA Master Chorale (I know the BFO only from recordings but Dudamel don’t let no lightweights play on his stage and the Mozart Requiem, one of the greatest ever and has an amazing backstory, look it up, also Wolfie’s "Jupiter" Symphony), Tues 8 p.m., Hollywood Bowl, $8-$125.
BUDDY GUY, JIMMIE VAUGHAN, CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE (three of our greatest living bluesmen, Grammy winners all, 1.5 centuries of playing concert halls and funky down-home roadhouses, mostly the latter, this is a don’t miss), Wed 8 p.m., Hollywood Bowl, $12-$128.
KRONOS QUARTET (perhaps America’s premier experimental string quartet, you really never know what to expect, except excellence), next Thurs 7 p.m., Burton W. Chace Park, MdR, free;
ALEX CLINE’S LIMITLESS LIGHT ENSEMBLE (you can bet pretty confidently that either Cline brother will blow your mind and with this name for the band, well, hold tight), next Thurs 8 p.m., Hammer Museum. Westwood, free.
The Original WAILERS (a treat but at the fancy schmancy Rose, would Bob turn in his grave, probably not because when he was criticized for buying a new BMW he said it was God’s will, BMW stands for Bob Marley &…), next Thurs, 8 p.m., The Rose, Pasadena, $28-$38.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD, 8/13, Greek Theater; FARTBARF, Numb.er, 8/15, Levitt Pavilion, LA, free; every Fri-Sat, live bands, mostly country-folk-rock, call for schedule, LA’s Original Farmers Market, free.
BODACIOUS BIRTHDAYS:
JERRY GARCIA (1942), RIP a middle finger; RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT (1931), I wrote about him a couple columns ago, in CURIOUS CITY; HERMAN MELVILLE (1889), “MD - Rehearsed” is playing now at Theatricum Botanicum; JIM CARROLL (1949), got to give a nod to the poet-punk rocker who wrote “The Basketball Diaries” and sang the unforgettable “People Who Died”; TOMMY BOLIN (1951), yeah, Deep Purple, James Gang, but it was his solo work that shone, check it out, gone way to early at 25; CLAUDIUS (10 BC), son of a fiddler, Nero, he did what Caesar couldn’t, conquered Britain, making the world safe for Long John Baldry, Keith Moon, others; FRANCIS SCOTT KEY (1779), Francis Scott, should be shot, if he wasn’t already pretty dead, for writing that dreadful, racist song, bad music, bad lyrics, that some idiot congressman thought should be our national anthem, of course it should be “America the Beautiful,” read all the lyrics, done Ray Charles style, of course.
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 2,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 33 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
