NICOLE RECOMMENDS:
BOB BAKER DAY -- (Celebrate your inner child or, bring an actual child! Bob Baker's Marionette Theater has been a beloved cultural attraction for Los Angeles since 1963. Back in business and better than ever since their recent relocation, they will be celebrating with an all day extravaganza hosted by the "Ambassador of Americana" Charles Phoenix, featuring live performances and entertainment by the Bob Baker Marionettes, cumbia/vallenato masters Very Be Careful, Frank Fairfield, a young man with an old folk sound, Americana harmony duo Tiny & Mary, DJ Lance Rock of Yo Gabba Gabba fame, DJ Tim Nordwind of OK Go, guided puppetry by David Arquette, workshops, face painting booths, food trucks, artists, vendors, and much more.) -- Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Los Angeles State Historic Park, Chinatown, free.
RECOMMENDED:
TONIGHT! -- LA OPERA - ROBERTO DEVEREUX by Gaetano DONIZETTI (talk about drama, not in the libretto but backstage and onstage, the lead diva takes ill a week before the first performance and drops out, LA Opera finds the spectacular soprano Alicia Meade, who played the role 11 years ago for the Dallas Opera and will be singing it this September at the Met, but no time to learn both the singing parts and the stage blocking so she thrills us from stage left, in the shadows, reading the score while production choreographer Nicola Bowie plays the costumed Queen Elizabeth I onstage silently, the diva set to sing Sara also “cancelled due to family reasons” but her replacement through March 5, Ashley Dixon, is superb AND a year ago LA Opera leader Placido Domingo was set to take the baritone role but, well, himtoo#, and this production was already scheduled for several personnel switches midway through but, whew, things should be back to normal tonight and when you take your seat none of this should matter nor show and it still has some of the most spectacular singing parts in opera from Donizetti and not only Meade but Dixon are worth the price of admission, if you go write me with a review please) -- Thurs, next Thurs 7:30 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, DTLA, $24-$329.
TONIGHT! -- DVOŘÁK 9, IVES 3 - DUDAMEL (Number 9, the Beatles might say, or “New World” sayeth the maestro of his most popular symphony, Antonin Dvořák, new to America, drew on Native American and African American rhythms for inspiration but remained fully in Czech as a composer while Charles Ives of Danbury, CT strove to present an original American view, his compact 3rd drawing on songs, hymns, children’s games and dances to create music of wondrous complexity) -- Thurs 8 p.m., Disney Hall, DTLA, $82-$227.
DVORAK 9, IVES 4 (the 4th is part meditation, part bombast, an attempt to join the voice of the American people that he championed with the monumental European tradition and said to embody the full range of his mature philosophical, metaphysical and musical ideas, all in 30 minutes, took him 10 years between symphonies and this was his last) -- Fri 11 a.m., Sat 8 p.m., Disney Hall, DTLA, $120-$252.
MARIA MULDAUR -- (began her career in the early ‘60s as Maria D'Amato, performing with John Sebastian, David Grisman and Stefan Grossman in the Even Dozen Jug Band, then joined Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band as featured vocalist and occasional violinist where she met and married Geoff Muldaur, got a new last name and put out two albums, spent “Midnight at the Oasis” and has been touring and recording folk and blues ever since, she doesn’t come around that often so here she is in SM, don’t wait) -- Fri 8 p.m., McCabe’s, SM, $25
TOM PAXTON -- (another legend of half a century, Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, "The Last Thing on My Mind," "Bottle of Wine," and one of my young boy favorites, "The Marvelous Toy" as done by the Chad Mitchell Trio -- for whom he auditioned but was rejected, joined the US Army after college and went to Clerk Typist School at Ft. Dix, NJ -- me too! eight years later, used his typewriter to write songs, went to the Village frequently and the rest is literally history, his songs recorded by everyone from Dylan to Dolly to The Move, try not to miss the legends when they come to town, might not get a second chance) -- Sat 8 p.m., McCabe’s, SM, $40.
DUSTBOWL REVIVAL -- (I first heard them years ago in the basement of a dive in Venice, a five piece band playing in the corner, no stage, that were really good but when a trio of horn players slipped in behind they took off, turns out that was the entire band, they’re down to six now and 10 years on, six albums and several world tours later, they keep pushing the boundaries of their roots sound and their newest album, “Is It Me, Is It You” gets personal and political but here’s what you really need to know: the tall one, the master fiddler, also mandolin and guitar, Connor Vance is homegrown Samohi-UCLA, and as cool, nice and down to earth as he is talented, and he is ridiculously talented) -- Sat 9 p.m., The Troubadour, WHwd, $20.
CHIEFTAINS’ IRISH GOODBYE TOUR -- (when Chieftains 4, considered the first of their “modern” albums, was the first one released in America in ‘73, I fell in love immediately and mystified a few of my friends who would drop by expecting to hear the Stones or the Kinks on my turntable and instead I was blasting the Chieftains at full volume, “just listen!” is how I would greet quizzical looks but I was soon vindicated when the Dead asked them to open for them on tour and Stanley Kubrick put them on the Barry Lyndon soundtrack and now it’s 41 albums later and Godknows how many tour miles and they are hanging it up, after 58 years, so how could you even consider skipping this one?) -- Sun 7:30 p.m., Disney Hall, DTLA.
LYRIS QUARTET & Mezzo-Soprano JESSICA RAUCH -- (perform New String Quartets by LA-Based Composers, I love the Lyris Quartet from their many performances in SM, but they play all over in all kinds of settings, such musicianship, and daring, and this one should be memorable) -- Tues 6:30 p.m., In Sheep's Clothing, DTLA, $25.
BURTON CUMMINGS -- (if he only rocked that vocal on the supremely rocking “American Woman” by his group The Guess Who back during student protest days, his place in history would be secure, and don’t forget the gall of a Canadian band telling us we were screwed up, no, that was our job, the American student brigade, I didn’t care for much else they did and their hit “These Eyes” was a ballad that didn’t stand out, but that voice...this will only be a disappointment if he decides to balladize “American Woman.” from the photos it looks like him and a keyboard -- OK) -- Tues 8 p.m., Pepperdine, Malibu, $40-$75.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: ROSEANNE CASH 3/6, Pepperdine, Malibu; FARTBARF 3/6, The Sardine, San Pedro; PATTI SMITH 3/6, Disney Hall, DTLA; THE SERATONES 3/6, Bootleg Theater, LA; LIQUID KITTY'S PUNK ROCK BBQ 3/8, Harvelle’s, SM; BUDDY GUY 3/8, The Saban, Beverly Hills, 3/11, The Canyon Montclair; SOUL ASYLUM 3/11, Teragram Ballroom, DTLA; AARON NEVILLE 3/13, The Rose, Pasadena, 3/14 The Canyon Agoura Hills; KINKY FRIEDMAN 3/13, McCabe’s, SM; GRACE POTTER 3/19, El Rey Theatre, LA: TAJ MAHAL QUARTET 3/20, The Canyon Agoura Hills. 3/21 The Canyon Montclair, 3/22 The Canyon Santa Clarita; SARAH SILVERMAN & ALL STARS 3/22, Largo, LA; SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS 3/28, Teragram Ballroom, DTLA.
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 34 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
