Outlaw Grub and Vision Boards

Comments (0) By Libby Molyneaux Wednesday, Jul 19 2006

There's no people like show people. See Sunday.

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FRIDAY, July 21

If you’re going to clash with other malcontent, ungrateful youths, it’s important that you look smart while bloodying your foe. Nobody knew this better than the Mods whose dashing suits, parkas and spiffy Vespas created a look you immediately associate with overcast British beaches, black beauties and The Who. This year’s Mods and Rockers Film Festival is hugely ambitious: more movies, more events, including a tiki party, comedy routines, and even a performance by series founder Martin Lewis in his one-man show Great Exploitations! An Audience With Martin Lewis (he knew all the rock gods of the ’60s, yes, including the Beatles). Tonight is a double feature of The Knack . . . and How to Get It and Work Is a 4-Letter Word. And on Sunday, July 23, there’s a screening of Blue Hawaii, followed by a luau. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; thru Aug. 17; also Aug. 19-31 at the Aero Theater; $9 for screenings only. For complete schedule: www.modsandrockers.com; (323) 466-FILM.

SATURDAY, July 22

When most people think of Pasadena, they think of the Rose Bowl, the Colorado Street Bridge and . . . um . . . that old-fashioned pharmacy with the soda fountain. But did you know that the home of the Doo Dah Parade has a lurid past? (But then again, who doesn’t?) The 1947 project delves into the nasty past of Pasadena with a trip to the sites of murders, arson, kidnappings and robberies with the Pasadena Confidential Crime History Tour. Hear all about oddities that happened at the famed Hotel Green, see Millionaires’ Row on Orange Grove, and learn about the suicide of a leprosy-ridden Chinaman whose hanging became a local spectacle. Sat., July 22. Call for times and reservations; $47, includes snacks and beverages. (323) 223-2767; www.1947project.com.

I just don’t know what to do with myself. I say a little prayer, wishing and hoping, but I’ll never fall in love again, ’cause this guy’s in love with you. What’s new, pussycat? What the world needs now is The Look of Love: The Music of Burt Bacharach by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Alex Theater, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale; Fri.-Sat., July 21-22, 8 p.m.; Sun., July 23, 3 p.m.; $19.50-$49.50. (800) MEN SING; www.gmcla.org.

SUNDAY, July 23

What’s your cup of hot tea today? There’s the Caribbean Seabreeze Fest, where the music is of the reggae and roots variety, including Culture, Baby Cham, Quinto Sol, Kingston Ska Collective and loads more. Or perhaps you’d rather swelter to something more brassy? The Old Pasadena Jazzfest moves to the Arboretum, with Incognito, Rachelle Farrel, Soul Express with Jody Watley, Teena Marie, an All-Star Marvin Gay/Motown tribute and more over two days. Either way, slather on the sunscream. Caribbean Seabreeze Fest:Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Hwy., Long Beach; Sun., July 23, noon; $45 at the gate. Old Pasadena Jazzfest, L.A. County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia; Sat.-Sun., July 22-23, gates open at 10:30 a.m.; $50 at the gate. (323) 480-3232.

Beverly Winwood Presents the Actors’ Showcase is Tony Sepulveda’s hysterical spoof of local theater productions showcasing actors desperate to be noticed by casting directors. (Overeager cast members hand audience members fake head shots accompanied by equally bogus bios listing high school, prison and county-fair acting credits.) The show’s been a smash at the Groundlings and the Canon Theater, and now you have one night only to see it as a benefit for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Playing as ineptly as they can are BWPTAS vets Tim Bagely, Patrick Bristow, Jennifer Coolidge, Cheryl Hines, Michael Hitchcock, Mindy Sterling and many more. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center at the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Pl., Hollywood; Sun., July 23, 7 p.m.; $35. (323) 860-7300.

MONDAY, July 24

If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “What has our fave L.A. comic Maria Bamfordbeen up to lately?” So we asked, and here’s her answer, if it can be trusted: “I’ve been sitting around and doing a lot of heavy ‘visualizing’ with my ‘vision’ board. When you cut things out that are two-dimensional, they are then ‘manifested’ in your three-dimensional world by the ‘universe.’ A few years ago, I had a microwave on my vision board, and my sister Sarah saw it and said, ‘That’s all you want? A f---ing microwave? That’s pathetic.’ A few days later, an old, splattered mini-microwave that had been sitting in her basement for years arrived at my door. And it’s right here in my one-bedroom rental in Los Feliz that I hope the universe manifests into a 14-bedroom ranch home with central air that hovers over the midway point between Long Beach and Catalina Island on a foundation of helium balloons.” See what we mean? Now go: Largo, 432 N. Fairfax Ave, L.A.; Mon., July 24, 9 p.m.; $5. (323) 852-1073.

TUESDAY, July 25

As crucial to the corner of Fairfax and Sixth as the Ramones were to Bowery and Bleeker, Flogging Molly is one of those quintessential L.A. bands many of us saw at Molly Malone’s before they went on to become Warped Tour faves. The seven-piece band’s Pogues-y swagger — it’s okay, leader Dave King comes from Dublin — and punky thrust are perfect for spilling your pint. As King puts it, “If it didn’t have mandolin, accordion, fiddle and whistle, it would be punk rock, and if it didn’t have guitar, bass and drums, it would be traditional Irish music.” A new documentary, Whiskey on a Sunday, follows the band over two years and through seven countries, ending with a show at the Wiltern. Look for yourself in the background spilling your pint. Molly Malone’s, 575 S. Fairfax Ave., L.A.; Tues., July 25, 8 p.m.; $6. (323) 935-1577.