Los Angeles Events - Los Angeles Entertainment Guide

Recommended Events
Inara George, Van Dyke Parks, The Brazil You Never Heard Largo at the Coronet : 8:00 p.m. May 29
Van Dyke Parks is the celebrated arranger-pianist best known for his collaborations with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, although he's also worked with everyone from Tim Buckley to Frank Zappa and has attempted to create his own hybrid of distinctively American pop and classical forms. Tonight... More >>
West Hollywood	Music

The Kids, The Stitches, Cyclops, Black Mambas Los Globos : 9:00 p.m. May 29
One of their best songs was "This Is Rock & Roll," but Belgium's Kids were as punk as it gets -- especially on their first two, relentless 1978 LPs, which matched The Damned's velocity with Ramones-style, punch-in-the-gut riffs. Ludo Mariman was more a flamethrower than a singer, and whether it... More >>
Silver Lake	Music

Billy's Fish Fry & Community Social: The Literary Event La Luz de Jesus Gallery : 8:00 p.m. May 30
For the last year or so, longtime Los Angeles merchant Billy Shire has been presenting a "21st-century salon" at his monthly Thursday Night Fish Fry & Community Social, featuring poetry, performances and music. The 14th edition, "The Literary Event," promises memorably unhinged prose to boot.... More >>
Los Feliz	Literary Events

John Talabot, Lemonade, DJ Mario Cotto The Echoplex : 8:00 p.m. May 30
Spanish producer John Talabot exists in a sort of DJ-world sweet spot, having earned the respect of critics and peers (ahem, James Murphy) and the admiration of dance-music audiophiles while maintaining a position as an innovator of the electro-world underground. An established scene hero in... More >>
Out of Town	Music

Christian Lyons: What Goes Around Comes Around MJ Briggs / Anna Meliksetian Gallery : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until May 25
In Sausalito-based artist Christiane Lyon's oil paintings, on view at MJ Briggs Gallery on Fairfax, quirky cultural references dissolve into loose gestures. At the top of Tinman, for example, Lyon has rendered a very flat, boldly colored Orthodox view of Jesus breaking bread with his disciples,... More >>
Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax	Art - Galleries, Arts

Shinique Smith: Firsthand Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) : Every Mon., Tue., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. until July 19
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... More >>
Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park	Arts, Art - Museums

Shut Up and Dance! Working Stage Theater : 8:00 p.m. every Thu. until May 30
Stella Valente Wilkins' brashly titled production about the redemptive power of dance sounds both too specific and too vaguely feel-goodish to make an effective premise. But since its debut workshop at last year's Hollywood Fringe festival, the solo show has tightened into a charming narrative... More >>
Hollywood	Theater

Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers Second Stage Theater : 8:00 p.m. every Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 2; 2:00 p.m. every Sun. until June 2
Traditional productions of Peter Pan have relied on huge casts, acres of elaborate scenery and complicated flying apparatus, but director Michael Matthews proves that's all unnecessary in this production of Michael Lluberes' revisionist adaptation. For starters, there's a male actor, Daniel... More >>
Hollywood	Theater

William Powhida: New Work Charlie James Gallery : Every Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 8
One imperfectly painted silver canvas with tie-dyed pink cloth loosely attached to its surface angles across another silver canvas in the basement of Charlie James Gallery. The middles of both canvases are cut open to reveal unsubstantial wood supports beneath. Artist William Powhida calls this... More >>
Chinatown/ Elysian Park	Arts, Art - Galleries

One White Crow Edgemar Center for the Arts : 8:00 p.m. every Fri., Sat. until June 23; 5:00 p.m. every Sun. until June 23
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... More >>
Santa Monica	Theater

Los Angeles Salsa Congress Westin Bonaventure : Daily from May 22 until May 26
Disclaimer: The 15th annual Los Angeles Salsa Congress is not about the kind of salsa you eat (Merengue fans: stay home and cry into your pies). Salsa dancing has its roots in '20s Afro-Caribbean culture, and this week will feature troupes from everywhere from Dubai to New York City, all... More >>
Downtown	Dance

The Presets The Avalon : 7:00 p.m. May 21; 7:00 p.m. May 23
Arguably the archetypal New Millennium electronic-music act, The Presets are a pair of rather nondescript, classically trained musicians/producers who capture the nocturnal mood of 1980s, New Order-ish synth pop using distinctly house- and trance-era tools. Last year's tricky third album,... More >>
Hollywood	Music

Kaz Oshiro: Still Life Honor Fraser : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until May 25
At Honor Fraser gallery, artist Kaz Oshiro's bright monochromes do not quite fit the spaces he has chosen for them. One yellow-orange canvas, hung vertically, is taller than the wall, and so it bends onto the ceiling on the top and bends onto the floor on the bottom. Oshiro also has stuck a... More >>
West L.A.	Arts, Art - Galleries

Shana Lutker: The Bearded Gas Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until May 25
One night in 1923, notoriously hotheaded Surrealist Andre Breton hit the much smaller, less notorious Pierre de Massot with his cane. He did so because de Massot had, in his view, insulted the great Pablo Picasso. Artist Shana Lutker's study of this altercation, and other physical fights among... More >>
Culver City	Arts, Art - Galleries

Dance Bistro 2013 Richard & Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center : 8:00 p.m. daily from May 24 until May 25
Don't call it a festival. Dance Bistro 2013 is more like a feast -- with 13 companies in two (mostly) different programs over two nights. Each show is preceded by video streaming of the dress rehearsals; low-priced tickets should lure dance fans away from the grill Memorial Day weekend.... More >>
Out of Town	Dance

Hempcon Los Angeles Convention Center : 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. May 24; 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. May 25; 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. May 26
This year's HempCon features live actions by some of the controlled substance's most uncontrollable creative forces: EPMD, Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs, Cappadonna of Wu-Tang Clan and Redman, among many others. Lest you think this is one big, blacklight orgy of people flapping their arms like... More >>
Downtown	Music

Tis Pity She's a Whore Archway Studio/Theatre : 8:00 p.m. every Thu., Fri., Sat. until May 26; 2:00 p.m. every Sun. until May 26
With this spirited production of Jacobean playwright John Ford's 1629 family tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, director Miranda Stewart shows that less is indeed sometimes better. At the play's center is the incestuous relationship between siblings Giovanni (Jonny Rodgers) and Annabella (Hannah... More >>
Downtown	Theater

Christian Scott Quintet Blue Whale : 9:00 p.m. May 24; 9:00 p.m. May 25; 9:00 p.m. May 26
New Orleans–based trumpeter Christian Scott has been charting his own path since being "discovered" by major label Concord Jazz in 2005. Scott's bent trumpet is reminiscent of the late great Dizzy Gillespie's but is of his own custom design. Scott also has been one of the few young jazz... More >>
Chinatown/ Elysian Park	Music

Nan Goldin: Scopophilia Matthew Marks Gallery : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 22
Photographer Nan Goldin, who studied at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts school and then migrated to New York, living in and photographing the gritty Lower East Side scene in the '70s and '80s, moved to Paris when Bush "stole the election" in 2000. Three years ago, she spent eight months running... More >>
Hollywood	Art - Galleries, Arts

Junip, On an On, Barbarossa The Troubadour : 8:00 p.m. May 29; 8:00 p.m. May 30
Jose Gonzalez's voice is more recognizable than the singer himself. With his group, Junip, the Swedish (by way of Argentina) troubadour's signature hollow tenor expands its folktronic reach. Bandmates Tobias Winterkorn's dark synthesizers and Elias Araya's understated percussion bring layers of... More >>
West Hollywood	Music

Cops and Friends of Cops VS. Theatre : 8:00 p.m. every Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 1
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... More >>
West Adams/ Crenshaw/ Baldwin Hills	Theater

The Size of Pike Moving Arts : 8:00 p.m. every Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 1
Boys will be boys and men will be men, though the distinction between the two is more likely one of personal income rather than emotional maturity. Or so it is with the three middle-aged children (Dennis Delsing, Jon Amirkhan and Gregg Christie) who explore their frayed adult bonds in this... More >>
Silver Lake	Theater

Steven Claydon: Total Social Objects David Kordansky Gallery : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until June 22
Few materials are weirder and tackier than kitchen laminate, the kind you put on countertops to give them that faux-something look. London-based artist Steven Claydon uses laminate liberally in his new show at David Kordansky Gallery. He uses greenish and brown varieties on his frames and... More >>
Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park	Arts, Art - Galleries

William Wegman Marc Selwyn Fine Art : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. until July 6
Before William Wegman became famous for wryly photographing his dog, a Weimaraner named Man Ray, he'd accumulated an equally wry series of self-portraits. A number of vintage black-and-white prints of Wegman's photographs from the 1970s, all of them paired with text, currently hangs at Marc... More >>
Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax	Arts, Art - Galleries

James Turrell: A Retrospective Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) : Every Mon., Tue., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. from May 26 until April 6
It's up for debate whether James Turrell is a sculptor, painter, architect, Light and Space artist or earthwork artist. We vote for all of the above, and more. But however you cast your ballot, you can't help but be a fan of Turrell's transcendent Skyspaces -- specially built rooms (and... More >>
Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park	Art - Museums