Calendar of Events in Los Angeles

Monday, June 17
• 
  Alice Smith
  The Troubadour

  Grammy-nominated songstress Alice Smith acquired massive buzz with her 2006 BBE release, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. Smith soon inked a deal with Epic Records, where she became a victim of nasty major-label politics. In a May interview with Vogue, the gutsy chanteuse explains: "The label used to say, 'You have to choose a genre or listeners literally won't get it; they don't have the... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Gary U.S. Bonds & Stephen Cooper
  Book Soup

  Back before the British Invasion derailed America's early-'60s, multiracial, dance-crazed, Big Beat revolution, our pop-music arena was a surprisingly inclusive community of wild-ass rockers, with a Top Five populated by the likes of Louisiana bluesman Slim Harpo and "Surfin' Bird" sickos The Trashmen. One of the stomping-est shouters of the day was Gary U.S. Bonds, the Florida-born,... Read more about this event >>

• 
  360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story
  Grammy Museum

  Dig Columbia Records' short list: Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen and Willie Nelson. Sean Wilentz -- America's hippest historian -- has written an epic tome called 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story (Chronicle Books), detailing the label's 125-year stretch. "More than I had known,... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Dying City
  Rogue Machine Theatre

  When Peter (Burt Grinstead) unexpectedly shows up at Kelly's (Laurie Okin) Lower Manhattan apartment, the mood is prickly and awkward. That's understandable; Peter is the identical twin of her husband, Craig, a hard-as-nails soldier who recently died in a military accident in Iraq. But during their conversation, many questions tug at this pair, threatening to bring them down into an emotional... Read more about this event >>

• More Monday Events >>

Tuesday, June 18
• 
  Comedy Nirvana! An Evening With Maron
  The Paley Center for Media

  Think finally getting his own TV show will spoil Marc Maron? Unlikely. "Things are going pretty well for me right now," the funnyman says in the first few minutes of IFC's Maron. "But that's a problem, because when things are going well, that means there's a voice in my head saying, 'You're gonna screw it up, Marc. You're gonna screw it up.' " In less than five years, Maron has gone... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Camera Obscura
  The Wiltern

  After the restrained, bookish, almost shy pop of Camera Obscura's early albums, you can't really blame lead singer Tracyanne Campbell if she wants to let loose exultantly once in a while on an uptempo and electrically rocking tune like "Do It Again," from the Scottish group's fifth album, Desire Lines. As a serpentine fuzz guitar unwinds behind her, she sounds serenely joyful, riding a wave... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Pitbull, Ke$ha
  Hollywood Bowl

  Summer's start is officially three days away, but Pitbull and Ke$ha get an early start tonight at the Bowl. At the outset of Pitbull's 2012 album, Global Warning, it sounds like the Florida rapper is about to weigh in heavily on the state of the universe, as he disses rappers who falsely brag about selling drugs and announces that he's "Mr. Worldwide." But within a few moments, on the aptly... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Eleanor Friedberger, Teen, Ice Water
  The Echo

  Eleanor Friedberger's second solo album is indeed a Personal Record. The Fiery Furnaces singer sets new high marks for catchy melodies even as she reveals more of herself and her romantic relationships through a rich accumulation of small but intimate details. The album's first two songs, "I Don't Want to Bother You" and "When I Knew," bounce along on cheery, poppy guitars that mask... Read more about this event >>

• 
  John Wesley: Objects and Paintings
  David Kordansky Gallery

  Most of the paintings in John Wesley's current exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery are done in his favorite colors: blues and pinks. They're also consistently, intentionally executed, which makes their quirky suggestiveness seem almost natural. Black-haired, naked girls with soft pink skin are on their knees and covering their heads on a baby blue bike helmet Wesley painted in 1973. A... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The Scottsboro Boys
  Ahmanson Theatre

  From its haunting, memory-play opening to the uplifting poignancy of its final, surprise reveal, John Kander and Fred Ebb's 2010 risk-taking musical retelling of one of the galvanizing episodes of the early civil-rights movement makes for a stirring summation of the songwriting team's 45-year Broadway career. The Scottsboro Boys' biggest gamble is its greatest coup: namely, its conceit of... Read more about this event >>

• More Tuesday Events >>

Wednesday, June 19
• 
  Visual Communication Seminar: In the Cut: Employing the Art of Editing
  Egyptian Theater

  Thomas Ethan Harris, producer and instructor of the American Cinematheque's film editing seminar, In the Cut: Employing the Art of Editing, promises, "Much of our program's clip content is based around powerful contemporary examples of modern, innovative editing that have put their own unique spins on what has come before -- some instantly flashy, some not so … at first." Which is to... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Kisses, Carousel, Mystery Skulls
  The Troubadour

  There's something a bit deceptive about Kisses. While the L.A. duo, featuring ex-Princeton man Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson, make no apologies for the glossy glitterings of their uber-stylish pop/disco sounds, neither do they neglect to address the sort of troubling decadence at its core. Their new album, Kids in L.A. , revels in the airy, twinkling textures of classic '70s instrumental... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Free Moral Agents, Sole, Eureka the Butcher
  The Airliner

  Long Beach's Free Moral Agents make records that'll be worth a thousand bucks in 15 years, so why not take a lesson from the wise audiences of the future and get into this group now? Starting as something closer to a solo project by ex-Mars Volta (and current Jack White) keyboardist and producer Ikey Owens, Free Moral Agents have evolved into an endlessly complex full band that explores the... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Sam Durant: What #isamuseum?
  The Getty Center

  A green vinyl sign above the security desk at the Getty Center asks, "Is a museum for everyone?" Another sign affixed to the floor in the rotunda at the top of the main stairs asks, "Is a museum fun?" These and other questions are part of L.A. artist Sam Durant's #isamuseum project. The idea is that visitors will answer, either on Twitter on their phones, later on the website or by going up... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Cops and Friends of Cops
  VS. Theatre

  The title Cops and Friends of Cops references the raucous "cops only" night held monthly at the tumbledown St. Louis bar in Ron Klier's suspenseful drama. While Dom (Paul Vincent O'Connor) prepares the bar for the night's guests, he is joined by the shabby-looking Paul (Johnny Clark), who insists on staying, in spite of Dom's repeated warnings that "the place is slammed with cops" and his... Read more about this event >>

• More Wednesday Events >>

Thursday, June 20
• 
  Dashiell Manley: The Great Train Robbery (Scene 3 Version B)
  Redling Fine Art

  As soon as you walk through the door at Redling Fine Art, you are standing inches from one of Dash Manley's paintings. All the paintings in his current exhibition are double-sided -- maybe with fields of color on raw linen on one side and a Plexiglas-covered collage on the other -- and leaning against upright steel armatures bolted to the floor at various angles that make the room feel like a... Read more about this event >>

• 
  War Stories and Free Beer
  Deutsch

  With absurd markups on alcohol in restaurants, it seems impossible to get a good buzz when your pockets don't run knee-deep. So what's better than finding a place that sells cheap beer? Finding a place that gives out free beer. That's what you get, and more, at GORUCK's War Stories and Free Beer. The traveling get-together serves as an outlet for military veterans to share their stories, a... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Egyptian Lover, Jonwayne, The Lions, Myron & E, Vex Ruffin, Dina, Doobie Sisters
  Exchange LA

  It's a blow-out year for music documentaries -- Joe Meek, Danny Fields and Big Star all are headed for the multiplex -- and now L.A.'s own Stones Throw gets onscreen with the crushing Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton. Crowd funded to completion late last year, Our Vinyl follows Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf from inspiration to tragedy -- the death of MC Charizma, still an influence on the... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Falling for Make Believe
  Colony Theatre

  The Colony Theatre's latest effort isn't quite there yet: Mark Saltzman's world-premiere musical about the wordsmith half of songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart requires polishing (and a hit would help get the faltering theater back on its feet). But for music lovers and nostalgic theater buffs, this revue directed by Jim Fall offers tender moments, two dozen of the pair's greatest hits and a... Read more about this event >>

• More Thursday Events >>

Friday, June 21
• 
  Contra-Tiempo Dance Theater: Hairspray Dance-A-Long
  Grand Park

  At some point, each of us must ask ourselves the fundamental question: Am I as groovy as Ricki Lake? Many will try but few will be able to fill the shoes of the racism-conquering, plus size-modeling, big hair-sporting teenage heroine of John Waters' classic 1988 film, Hairspray. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try! Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Baltimore's reigning dance queen supreme... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Sea Wolf
  El Rey Theatre

  On the third Sea Wolf album, Old World Romance, lone wolf Alex Brown Church embraces adulthood. These beautifully crafted songs showcase Sea Wolf's signature emotive nature by turning themselves inside out with refreshing fluidity. Propelled by glistening melodies, which crib from Travis' Fran Healy a touch more than they should and take almost too many cues from Echo & the Bunnymen's Ian... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Math Bass; Leidy Churchman
  Human Resources

  New York artist Leidy Churchman's small paintings of an ambulance, a sky-blue rectangle against a gray one and a devil hang in colored frames on the walls of Human Resources, with L.A. artist Math Bass' sculptures arranged on the floor. There's a column made of brand-new garden pots, faux animal skins, an orange-and-black-spotted tarp draped over an armature we can't see and a red flag that... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Dita Von Teese
  House of Blues Sunset Strip

  Much as C. Montgomery Burns is the face of nuclear power and Pablo Picasso is the face of unrecognizable faces, Dita Von Teese has become the personage representing the resurgence of burlesque as a force in popular culture. Performing her latest extravaganza, Burlesque: Strip, Strip Hooray! , the Los Feliz resident and her burlesque hit squad -- MC Murray Hill, Dirty Martini, Catherine... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Hubbard Street Dance Chicago/Alonzo King LINES Ballet
  The Music Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

  It was a proposition Alonzo King couldn't refuse. As artistic director of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet and an internationally known choreographer, King was used to invitations to choreograph for other companies, but no one before had asked him to bring his 12 LINES dancers with him. But when the offer came from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago artistic director Glenn Edgerton, King said yes. The... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Smoke and Mirrors
  Lankershim Arts Center

  If you've forgotten the childlike joy and sublime wonderment of seeing magic performed, Albie Selznick's theatrical show is an enchanting reminder. The accomplished actor-magician puts on a bewildering tour de force that has more "how did he do that" flashes than can be counted. The show also has a personal element, as Selznick recounts his long path to becoming a master magician, starting... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Kendrick Scott Oracle
  Blue Whale

  Drummer Kendrick Scott is a man of faith, introspection and Conviction, the name of his latest, best-selling album. He's also a fan of Bruce Lee and The Matrix. How would that movie's Oracle respond to sharing her name with his band? She might say, "You didn't come here to make the choice, you've already made it. Now you have to understand it." Understanding the depths of Scott's music might... Read more about this event >>

• More Friday Events >>

Saturday, June 22
• 
  Venice Music Crawl
  Deus Ex Machina

  In an effort to jumpstart a music scene on the Westside, the inaugural Venice Music Crawl is stacked with sponsors and a commendable roster of bands ready to take Venice to the next level. On the heels of Central SAPC closing, VMC is enthusiastic about launching the first weekend of summer and collecting music lovers in a fresh and untapped section of the city. Despite the Westside's "bubble"... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Iris DeMent
  First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles

  Although Iris DeMent was raised in Los Angeles, the Arkansas native rarely performs here, appearing in this city about as often as she releases albums. Her latest, 2012's Sing the Delta, was issued a mere eight years after her fourth album, a set of gospel standards titled Lifeline, but it's been more than 16 years since DeMent's previous collection of original tunes, 1996's The Way I Should.... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Good Intentions: Re-Imagining Rockwell's Boy Scouts
  Subliminal Projects

  Norman Rockwell and the Boy Scouts of America have a lot in common. Rockwell's beloved illustrations helped shape America's view of itself as it faced a rapidly changing world, and the Scouts were frequently Rockwell's subjects. Back in the day, the two shared the same wholesomely nostalgic, all-American image. But since their heyday, both have undergone image renovations -- and that's where... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Yunhee Min: Into the Sun; Mary Reid Kelley, Patrick Kelley: Priapus Agonistes
  Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects

  Yunhee Min used a squeegee to apply acrylic paint to the linen-covered frames and the tubes of fluorescent lights standing vertically in her current exhibition at Susanne Vielmetter Projects in Culver City. Although the colors she uses -- ultramarine blue, yellow, orange, fuchsia -- are buoyant, the thick strokes the squeegee makes have a muscular forcefulness to them. Min calls her show, and... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles: Not Entirely Wicked
  Saban Theatre

  The great Cole Porter, master of both music and lyrics, once snidely remarked about Rodgers and Hammerstein, "Since when does it take two people to write a song?" Stephen Schwartz might agree -- after all, he's written both the music and lyrics to umpteen Broadway and screen hits. This weekend, the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles closes out its season with a tribute to Schwartz, who appears... Read more about this event >>

• 
  One White Crow
  Edgemar Center for the Arts

  Playwright Dale Griffiths Stamos' drama boasts a charged debate about faith versus science that's engagingly even-handed and surprisingly evocative. Renowned TV celebrity psychic Judith Knight (Michelle Danner) offers an exclusive interview to hard-boiled reporter Teresa (Jane Hajduk), who is mystified by the request, given that she is a fierce disbeliever in the occult and is also the... Read more about this event >>

• More Saturday Events >>

Sunday, June 23
• 
  She & Him, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
  Hollywood Bowl

  People seem to only love or hate Zooey Deschanel, finding her either adorably cute or insufferably contrived in her attempts to be cute, with hardly any middle ground in between. Perhaps folks confuse the singer with the ditzy character she portrays on the sitcom New Girl, but she's nonetheless a perfectly charming and credible pop chanteuse, especially when paired with the talented guitarist... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Austra, Bestial Mouths
  The Troubadour

  High-gloss synth-pop meets the damp 'n' doom in Toronto's Austra, whose 2011 Feel It Break debut earned wild huzzahs for its cold-ass treks down electro-rock's gothier paths. Katie Stelmanis doesn't so much sing as wield a vocal razor, in a tolerably affected operatic mode well matching the highly stylized, remorselessly machinelike textures and beats that envelop her on the band's new album,... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Shinique Smith: Firsthand
  Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

  Artist Shinique Smith traveled from New York to Los Angeles a few times this winter and spring to meet with students at Charles White Elementary School, to talk to them about her work and to invite them to help her make one of her hanging sculptures: fabrics mashed together, then suspended to look like unwieldy creatures. LACMA's education department spearheaded this effort, called... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Dying City
  Rogue Machine Theatre

  When Peter (Burt Grinstead) unexpectedly shows up at Kelly's (Laurie Okin) Lower Manhattan apartment, the mood is prickly and awkward. That's understandable; Peter is the identical twin of her husband, Craig, a hard-as-nails soldier who recently died in a military accident in Iraq. But during their conversation, many questions tug at this pair, threatening to bring them down into an emotional... Read more about this event >>

• More Sunday Events >>