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Periodic Periodical by Drew Tewksbury
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Soviet Posters, 67 Ellens, Hot Rods and Pedal Cars, Industrial Lou Reed, Female Computers of WWII
Jan 27th, 2012 @ 10:38 am
Friday, January 27
MUSIC: Petrovic Blasting Company at the Echo
Sorta gypsy jazz meets Russian vodka hall brew music. What’s a vodka hall? Shhh. Don’t ask.
More info: “In 1989, in the encroaching mountains of Serbia or Tennessee, an idea occurred between two brothers; or rather, a quixotic dream: to build a bridge from Turkey to Europe. This bridge would be lined with tapestries and populated by a thousand great white birds. Soaring over the Mediterranean sea, as it were, commuters would be flanked by low growing patches of colorful flora. The bridge would be a swath of color and light, a paintbrush stroke between continents, between cultures, between civilizations. On each independence day of each independent country, elaborate displays of fireworks would erupt from the bridge and the Christmas lights would crawl across the bridge like festive veins of ivy on the eves of all the world’s favorite holidays.
The brothers were pleased by their idea, and so they set off to play music in the streets, that they may raise the funds (approximately $85 billion would do) by the generosity (monetarily speaking) of the persons whose lives they one day hope to improve.
Pomona is known for having killer car shows, but this huge show takes the cake. Also, for car geeks this year is lovingly known as the “Deuce year.” Sounds gross, but it’s not. I swear. It’s the 80th anniversary of ’32 Ford
More Info: “In all eight Fairplex exhibit buildings and the surrounding grounds, the Grand National Roadster Show roars into town with the finest roadsters in the country, vying for the coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award. This show is huge: more than 500 roadsters, customs, hot rods and motorcycles competing for top awards. Hundreds more roll in for the 7th annual Drive-In for additional prizes on Saturday and Sunday. The 63rd Annual Grand National Roadster Show will feature, the 1932 Ford in the 80th Anniversary of “The Deuce”.”
THEATER: Martin McDonagh’s “The Lonesome West”
From the twisted mind who brought us the riotous blood fest The Lieutenant of Inishmore and the hilariously dark In Bruges, the Ruskin Group Theater presents Martin McDonagh’s play about violence and family in Ireland.
More Info: Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm through March 4, 2012 LosAngeles, CA – A four time Tony Award nominee and two-time Academy Award winning playwright, Martin McDonagh will have his work, The Lonesome West, presented in Los Angeles for a limited run at the critically acclaimed Ruskin Group Theatre beginning January 27, 2012.
ART/SMARTS: Initial Points: Anchors of America’s Grid
*The Center for Land Use Interpretation is located behind an unmarked door next to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. If the Museum of Jurassic Technology is a mysterious, steam-punk wondercabinet, then the CLUI is the hi-tech, human geography-obsessed conjoined twin.
More Info: This new exhibit looks at the historic surveying infrastructure of the USA, and how literal monuments of place have evolved into expressive cornerstones of space. An exhibition by the Center for Land Use Interpretation in association with the Institute of Marking and Measuring with contributions by the National Museum of Surveying and the Principal Meridian Project.
ART/SMARTS/MUSIC: LONG BEACH TRIPLE FEATURE: LOU REED: Metal Machine Trio: The Creation of the Universe / Lou Reed and Producer Bob Ezrin In Conversation at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center AND STATIC NOISE: The Photographs of Rhona Bitner
So much awesome coming from the fine people of CSULB. First is a 3-D sound installation recreating a 1975 industrial performance by Lou Reed, then there’s Rhona Bitner’s photos from iconic music venues, and finally a discussion by Lou Reed with producer Bob Ezrin. Ask Lou what was up with that LULU thing with Metallica.
More info: STATIC NOISE: The Photographs of Rhona Bitner, opening January 27, 2012 at University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach, presents West Coast photography and music lovers their first opportunity to view up close the art of New York-based Rhona Bitner. The exhibition features twenty-eight photographs from Bitner’s ongoing LISTEN series, a body of work devoted to the exploration of significant sites in American music history in their present condition—from Electric Lady Studios and CBGB in New York to the Sound Factory and Whisky à Go-Go in Los Angeles.
Metal: In 1975 RCA Records originally released Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music as a double album. It was seen as a radical departure from previous Reed recordings of the time as it had no songs or even recognizably structured compositions. Drawing more from minimalist American composer La Monte Young’s avant-garde compositions and drone music than from conventional rock and roll, Metal Machine Music is now seen, in retrospect, as a groundbreaking foray into industrial music and sound art. Metal Machine Trio, a 2009 live performance with John Zorn at the Blender Theatre in New York, using special microphone techniques by the sound engineers acousticians at Arup.
The University Art Museum, CSULB will present the world premiere audio installation of Metal Machine Trio as an ambisonic 3-D re-creation. In collaboration with the Arup team in New York, Reed has been able to recreate, for museum visitors, this groundbreaking composition from exactly the same acoustic perspective he had while performing it onstage.
THEATER/SPECTACLE: Michael Jackson Immortal/Cirque du Soliel at Staples Center
The gloved one may be gone, but Michael Jackson’s music and moves live on through Cirque du Soleil’s production of “the Immortal World Tour.” The whimsical dance troupe takes on Jackson’s comeback tour that was tragically cut short, providing an outsized extravaganza worthy of the King of Pop.
ART/SMARTS: Sci Arc / Materials & Applications: LA Freewaves and Julie Lazar:
Kaleidoscope of Pacific Standard Time
Ok, so no John Cage songs will be played, but this still sounds great. Expect some outlandish antics and some experimental sonic tomfoolery.
More info: To honor California-native John Cage’s centenary and his liberating spirit, RE:COMPOSITION is a thematic program that considers how current compositional practices are enabling artists in a variety of disciplines to reconstitute aspects of their art creation. Though no John Cage compositions will be performed during RE:COMPOSITION, the program embraces the pioneering role which Cage played in the expansion and liberation of visual art and musical compositional practices both internationally and in California during the 20th Century.
Saturday, January 28
ART(ish): The 2nd Annual Ellen Art Show @ The Terrell Moore Gallery
Who wouldn’t want to see 67 portraits of Ellen? Yeah, me neither. But, it’s for a good cause, and I’m sure there will be some hilarious/awesome/awful poses from the star of Mr. Wrong.
More Info: This event is a charity fundraiser for The Trevor Project, www.TheTrevorProject.org, and a party for Ellen Degeneres, in honor of her 54th birthday. There will be 54+ portraits of Ellen Degeneres on …display at the event, painted by artists from LA, NYC, & Miami, as well as Las Vegas, Philadelphia, South Carolina, and Ohio. All portraits will be sold to benefit The Trevor Project.
ARTS/SMARTS: Deconstructing Perestroika/ Craft and Folk Art Museum
Two of LA’s best kept secrets, the Craft and Folk Art Museum, and the Wende Cold War museum are teaming up like a Voltron of radicalness. Russian art under Communism is totally fascinating because 1.) all art had to be made for the state and 2.) it somehow resembled American art at the same time. Yeah, yeah, there’s huge differences with the subject matter, and Russian art never could go as batshit crazy as American art, but it’s really interesting to see how a medium dictates what a piece of art can look like. The screen print is one great example, and this show highlights the confines and liberating aspects of the medium. Oh and Russia. Lots of images of Russia or something.
More info: In collaboration with The Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War, CAFAM will present Deconstructing Perestroika, the first major exhibition in the United States of hand-painted Soviet-era political posters that were inspired by a new government policy of transparency in the former Soviet Union. Organized to mark the 20th anniversary of the former Soviet Union’s demise in December 1991, this exhibition highlights some of the key political and cultural shifts that defined the era and ultimately led to the fall of the former superpower, namely Mikhail Gorbachev’s transformative policies of Glasnost and Perestroika in the late-1980s and early-1990s. These posters illustrates the tradition of hand-painted poster design, known in Russian as avtorskii plakat, which is an outgrowth of traditional Soviet agitprop. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Ljiljana Grubisic, Director of Collections and Public Programs at The Wende Museum.
Sunday, January 29
FAMILY: Sustainable Sundays: Soil, Dirt and Land at the NHM
Get the dirt on dirt! (see what I did here, har har). Here’s some family stuff for people with pipsqueaks, and for those who just want to know how to turn those thumbs green.
More info: Sunday, January 29, 2012; 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Grand Foyer, Level 1
Get a closer look at the precious resource right beneath our feet and learn about the science of soil with our experts! Get your gardening and composting questions answered, try your hand at pottery, and meet some critters that call dirt their home!
Workshop 1 pm - 3 pm: The Science of Soil with Master Gardener Vanessa Vobis
Calling all naturalists and gardeners! Embark on a journey beginning 4.6 billion year ago during Earth’s formation to learn about the history of soil. What are soil’s origins, how is it regenerated, who (or what) needs it and why should you care? In present times, our understanding of soil has changed: politically and socially, what is soil? And what does soil mean to the people that grow our food?
FILM: Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of World War II / Downtown Indie
The untold story of female mathematicians in World War II? Probably the most awesome documentary subject ever! Mathletes! No really, this rules. There’s even a discussion afterward where you can discuss how much this rules.
More Info: In early December 1941, Betty Jean Jennings was a freshman completing her first semester at a rural Missouri college. In Philadelphia, Doris and Shirley Blumberg were seniors at Girl’s High and Marlyn Wescoff was completing a minor in business machines at Temple University. In an era of limited career opportunities for women, these bright students anticipated low paying careers as schoolteachers or bookkeepers. But on Sunday, December 7, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and changed these young women’s lives forever. With Pearl Harbor suddenly drawing the US in to WWII, the Army launched a frantic national search for women mathematicians.
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