Highly Recommended
All Star Sumo – Yolo, and LA offers exotic opportunities that Omaha and Albuquerque don’t. My millennial daughter and her friends watched sumo last year and had a blast. There was an "open" sumo competition in this same venue a few months ago, and I’m sure it rocked the Richter, but this one is an all-star lineup (you won’t see sumo this good unless you go to Japan), with 20 championships among the eight wrestlers, and there are no weight classes so you may see a 200-pounder take on a fighter almost three times his heft. It’s non-stop round-robin action, 28 matches in two hours, and all champions will face each other in the ring. Five Japanese wrestlers, two Mongolians, one Egyptian, 3,360 pile-driving pounds. Half weigh in over 500 pounds, and one skinny dude at only 220, but he’s also a champion, with 24 years experience. There’s reason he’s there. A sumo match can end in seconds (take that, soccer and football), but there will be a giant jumbotron screen for replays. Ask yourself: where else could you be that you will remember for years? Doors open at 5pm action starts at 5:30pm, Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, $40-200, plus $75 if you want to hang with the huge, at their after party, including Japanese cuisine buffet, cash bar Kirin and sake, and photos with the sumos (show your friends how skinny you look these days). https://www.allstarsumo.com/
Theatricum Botanicum – Founded more than half a century ago by blacklisted writer/actor Will Geer, his family has carried on superbly, and his daughter Ellen is directing A Winter’s Tale, one of Willie the Shake’s last, with a final scene promising to blow medieval and modern minds alike. TB is known for their Shakespeare and performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream their first season, and every year since, and this year it is directed by Willow Geer, Will’s granddaughter. There is not a more perfect stage for this classic than the woods of Topanga. Wendy’s Peter Pan by title alone sounds like great fun. Ellen Geer directed this different look at a tale we are all so familiar with. Peter Pan, Sat 7:30pm, Midsummer Sun 3:30pm, Winter Sun 7:30pm, $15-60.
Hot Club of Los Angeles — You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 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
Wild Things are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak – Now you can see them much bigger than a page in a book. This is the first complete retrospective of his art since his death in 2012, and includes his work in many areas of the arts. Twyla Tharp, Spike Jonze, Tony Kushner. Opera sets! "I love opera beyond anything," he once proclaimed, "and Mozart beyond anything." 6/20-9/1, Skirball Museum.
Make Music Day International 2024 – It’s a fantastic idea, but probably the less I say about it, the better. Started in France in 1982, picked up in the USA 15 years later (what took so long?) and in LA and SM five years after that. The idea is to celebrate making music on June 21, summer solstice, by encouraging musicians of any caliber to step outside and share with the world. On porches, in parks, sidewalks and parking lots, and it happens in some 1,000 cities. Here’s my sadness: that the City of Santa Monica has not given this more than passing, minor support and publicity. I won’t detail the failings over the years, but if we want to become known as a City of the Arts, and we should, for so many reasons, why would we snub this golden opportunity every year? It is supposed to be a grass roots thing,but grass needs a little help to thrive. Oh sure, some performances crop up ("3 This Year!"), promoted by neighborhood groups mostly, but the City could do so much more than just stand on the sidelines and applaud politely. So go, seek it out yourself and you will have a great time, I guarantee. Sat, various locations and times.
Doobie Brothers — They have so many great songs you can’t help but have a memorable time. I love Michael McDonald and he’s their official vocalist and keyboard player, but founding members Tom Johnston will be there to sing some of his signature songs, and guitar whiz Patrick Simmons, and that’s more than enough. Don’t miss opening act The Robert Cray Band, for some down home blues. Sun 7pm, Kia Forum, Inglewood, $30-230.
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.
Chris Stapleton, Grace Potter — I’ll be in Nashville and that’s a flippin’ shame because both these performers have been on my bucket list for a long time. But despite being a rock screamer of the highest order, Potter has also performed with Mavis Staples, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, the Stones, and so many more. The lady also plays a Flying V electric guitar and some fine keyboards. Stapleton has one of the most expressive, supple voices I have ever heard, and can also duet beautifully with anyone. He writes exceptional songs, mostly slower, bluesy ones, but sings with a country twang that could stop a charging buffalo herd, and meanders easily from growl to angelic. And his sweet guitar playing rivals his voice and words. Maybe I should skip Nashville… Wed, Thurs 7pm, Hollywood Bowl, $205-2,500.
Coming Attractions (also Recommended) "Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak," Skirball, 6/20-9/1; Make Music Day International, 6/21; Theatricum Botanicum — Wendy’s Peter Pan, 6/22, 29, 7/6, 14, 23, 26 — A Winter’s Tale, 6/23, 30, 7/4, 14, 19, 28 — A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 6/23, 30, 7/7 — Tartuffe-Born Again, 7/13, 20, 27; Toledo Diamond, Harvelle’s, 6/23, 30; Hot Club of Los Angeles, Cinema Bar, 6/24; All Star Sumo, Walter Pyramid, 6/22; Doobie Brothers, Kia Forum, 6/23; Chris Stapleton, Grace Potter, Hollywood Bowl, 6/26, 27; Chris Potter Trio, Jazz Bakery, 6/29; Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life, Hollywood Bowl, 6/29; UB40, English Beat, Greek, 7/1; Rolling Stones, Sofi Stadium, 7/10, 13; Patti LaBelle, Hollywood Bowl, 7/7; All Gershwin, Hollywood Bowl, 7/11; Slash, Samantha Fish, Warren Haynes Band, Eric Gales, Greek, 7/13 ; Big Band Night, Hollywood Bowl, 7/17; Ziggy Marley, Bellwether, 7/20; Mozart Under the Stars, Zubin Mehta, Pinchas Zuckerman, Hollywood Bowl, 7/23; All-Beethoven, LA Phil, 7/25; Michael Franti & Spearhead, Greek, 7/26; Dwight Yoakam, Mavericks, Greek, 7/27; Lake Street Dive, Greek, 7/27; Outlaw Fest: Willie, Bob, Mellancamp. Hollywood Bowl, 7/31; UB40, English Beat, Inner Circle, Greek, 7/31; Schumann & Bruch, LA Phil, Hollywood Bowl, 8/1; Mavis Staples, Norah Jones, Greek, 8/4; Reggae Night XXII: Damian and Stephen Marley, Hollywood Bowl, 8/4; Hives, Foo Fighters, BMO Stadium, 8/9; Jon Batiste, Greek, 8/10; Pretenders, Foo Fighters, BMO Stadium, 8/11; Herbie Hancock Head Hunters 50th, H0llywood Bowl, 8/14; 10CC, Theatre at Ace Hotel, 8/15; All-Dvořák with Midori, LA Phil, Hollywood Bowl, 8/20; Gary Clark Jr, Hollywood Bowl, 8/21; Dudamel & Yunchan Lim, Hollywood Bowl, 8/29.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 38 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else.
