Magic At The Hollywood Bowl

What a wonderful weekend I had with my visiting brother!  A perfect beach day Friday - the air fluttered with the wings of pelicans, the water crashed and sparkled and stunned us with a large school of feeding dolphins.  It was magical. Oh, that's so funny - this word "magical" reminds me that once I was standing at the cheese and crackers table at a party, hugely pregnant with my first baby, loading my plate no doubt, when Jeri Hall came up beside me to get something to nibble. She looked at my large belly, smiled her stunning, stunning smile and said "Aren't children just magical..." She was just being nice and she turned out to be right but at that moment all I could think was, "get away from me you skinny bitch."

Anyway - the beach was magical but maybe less so than Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, my dears, if you ever get the chance to see John Williams conduct his own music, or anybody conduct music from the Star Wars movies, you must take it! Don't forget your light saber -


John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl! from Kevin Lee on Vimeo.

This is not my video but I figure that since I am in it (we were just opposite this vantage point) it's okay to upload Kevin Lee's post from Vimeo.  Thanks Kevin!

The Hollywood Bowl season continues through September. Next weekend it's Totally 80s.

I love the B52s.

 And look for me at the Sing Along Sound of Music on September 24th.  How wonderful to be in an entire amphitheater full of like minded sentimentalists, yodeling.

I want to find the guy with his fists in the air. We could be friends.

My Visitor And Your Early Weekend Feast

My brother is coming to visit. His plane gets in tonight. He hasn't been to Los Angeles in nearly 13 years and I am so joyful that we are able to spend a few days together.  I usually go visit him because he and his family live, arguably,  in the most beautiful place in the world -

regular readers know my love of Washington state's San Juan Islands.

My brother lives on Orcas Island.

Accessible only by ferry or seaplane, you have already begun to leave it all behind just by deciding to go.

Orcas is a place where my kids can spend summer days like this

and this

and dressed like this, not to be some kind of tiny hipsters but because these were the cleanest things left,

and feeling powerful,  in command of their own vessel (tied though it is to a tree) in a way they just can't in Los Angeles.   Summer days on Orcas island with their cousins and other favorite people we have up there are some of my kid's happiest memories.

Here's the thing about Randy visiting LA. He lives on an island, has lived there for over 20 years. Choices and preferences and way-of-life are firmly established.  Los Angeles is a big change for him.  It's not that the guy can't handle the big city. He's the toughest softie I know, having spent, just as an example, a couple of years basically living on the street, though sometimes there was a beach to sleep on or a floor on which to crash.  He's been through a lot and he can handle himself, anywhere.  But, in his soul, he's a quiet Island guy and I know the moment I put him in my car tomorrow morning and start driving him all over town, pointing out this and swerving to give him a better view of that, he's going to be gripping the car door so hard his carpenter's work-reddened knuckles will go white.  He's not here for the fast life. I love that expression  -the "fast life" - it's exactly what I mean to say and exactly what we are not looking for as I plan our time together.

So, how to share this city with an Northwest island boy?  What's the best LA for this particular visitor?

First things first - my brother is an excellent cook and avid coffee drinker, so good food and great coffee are a must.  You know how the best coffee places make a drip by pouring water slowly over coffee in a filter placed over a container or with one of those Chemix brew things?

Randy has been making coffee like this for 15 years, maybe more, I'll have to ask him.  Why? Because, as I now understand, it makes great coffee.  I thought it was because he couldn't afford a coffee maker years ago and now he was just used to it.  If one of his kids wants noodles he makes noodles - by hand.  Simple, delicious, far better than any store-bought thing, this is the way my brother wants food. He is like Oscar Wilde if Oscar Wilde lived in Seattle and worked with tools - "I have the simplest tastes, I'm always satisfied with the best. "

So, what to feed him? He doesn't need what he would think of a fancy place. They'll be no Providence, no Cut or Spago or Melisse, no Mozza or Angelina Osteria good as they all are and definitely possible stops for other visitors. And a very, very, very LA place,  Chateau Marmont, say,  is out.  But he will deeply appreciate the truly good with a minimum of attitude (not that the Chateau has attitude - those gorgeous girls at the desk are always lovely but it is, still, so much.)  Thursday morning we'll make a quick stop at Gjelina for baked goods. We'll be in and out fast, I'll pop in up the street for my mocha, then a quick drive a few more blocks north to eat with a view of the water in Santa Monica. Let the kids out to play in the playground while we sit on a bench. Yes, great first morning.

That afternoon we'll get sandwiches from Bay Cities, then drive to visit my husband at work, where some filming is going on. Everybody is interested in watching at least a little bit of filming, right?   For what's filming in town information for you and your visitors, try this link.  I'm not super familiar with it and, though there is some good information based on what I just read today, I noticed that they missed something that was filming in my neighborhood this past Monday and Tuesday.  If you have a great, accurate, frequently updated site on location shoots in LA, please share it with other readers.

The beach is an obvious choice and that's Friday's plan. After a stop at Malibu Country Mart to a) give my brother a look at those beautiful Malibu girls and b) pick up some food,  we'll go north a bit,  probably past Point Dume, awesome as it is, and all the way to El Matador.  Almost at county line, necessary to climb down a long, steep set of stairs (not a beach for kids under 4)  it's a bit of a pain to get to which means it's pretty quiet, at least on weekdays.  If the fog keeps up, as it has done all summer, I wouldn't be surprised if we were nearly alone out there.

An early dinner at my beloved Tasting Kitchen is Friday night's plan.  I figure this LA/Northwest hybrid ( did you know it's a kind of LA/NW hybrid? It is)  -  Venice location,  Portland chefs, California ingredients, Los Angeles lookers by way of Abbott Kinney, will be 2 hours of  delicious, comfortable pleasure.  Several art openings take place in Venice on Friday too. Check out Venice Patch for a great run-down.

For sports fans who love the arts, Friday night at Dodger Stadium is Museums Matter Night.  Our home towns boys battle the Colorado Rockies in an evening designed to benefit several area museums. Click here for special tickets. 

If we were going to be downtown Friday night we'd check out Dance Downtown at the Music Center Plaza, Grand Ave. This week it's Zydeco.  Hum, I love that kind of music. That's tempting...  Dance lessons begin at 6:30 and pop up again throughout the evening.    

Down the street at California Plaza, 300-350 S. Grand Ave Grand Performances presents From the Roots to the Fruits: A Tribute to Quincey Jones. The concert starts at 8pm.

 If my niece and nephews were going to be here Saturday we would go to Star Wars Day at the LA Zoo (thanks to reader Spider for this tip.)  This looks like a super event with character meet and greets all day from 10 - 5 and fun, real animal/star wars creature comparisons throughout the zoo.  Bet you made the Ewok/Koala match yourself, didn't you? Or how about a concert at the Ford Amphitheater? Saturday morning at 10 you and your family can be a part of the Big! World! Fun! Family series when Lisa Haley and the Zydacats take the stage. It's here for tickets and information.

And speaking of Star Wars - this weekend at The Hollywood Bowl it's  John Williams: Maestro of the Movies.  It's the perfect concert for visitors and we'll be taking my brother. There are seats available for both nights, better seats Friday, nosebleed seats are all that's left for Saturday night.

Some other possibilities for Saturday afternoon include Fiesta La Ballona in Culver City for rides, music and street fair style fun or an early and very LA meal at A-frame  before heading to the bowl. 

I look forward to a wonderful time with my brother and I hope you are winding down your summer with people you love, too. 

Riders On The Earth Together

Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from the outside, is available, a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.

— attributed to Sir Fred Hoyle, 1948.

45 years ago today, August 23rd, 1966, satellite Lunar Oribter 1 took the first photograph of Earth from the moon.

The orbiter, designed to map the lunar surface in order to determine the most appropriate spot for a future manned moon landing, was on its 16th orbit.  It was just passing behind the moon when mission control sent the order to turn the camera and try to get a shot.  It was a risky maneuver so mission heads had to first agree that nobody would be in trouble if something went wrong. A no-fault experiment, if you will.  I love to think of them all in their black rimmed glasses, someone saying - "Hey, let's try to get a shot of the Earth!"  Did  a murmur ripple through the scientists and engineers at their computer screens?  Was there scoffing or instant excitement and assent? In any case, the images, transmitted back to earth via the NASA tracking station near Madrid, Spain had powerful effects on many who saw them. 

To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold—brothers who know now they are truly brothers.

 — Archibald MacLeish, American poet, 'Riders on earth together, Brothers in eternal cold,' front page of the New York Times, Christmas Day, 25 December 1968

For an interesting article on the restoration of these and other Orbiter 1 images, click here.
To learn everything you want to know about Lunar Orbiter 1,  it's here for NASA's page.




 

 

This Weekend in Los Angeles -The Weekend Feast for August 19th -21st, 2011

Friday nights this month the France Goes POP!  festival takes over The Silent Movie Theater, 611 N. Fairfax.  This Friday it's Anna from 1967.


Cinefamily's France Goes POP! series promo from Cinefamily on Vimeo.


 Enjoy the trailer ( groovy, groovy music) and try to see at least one of these fantastic films from a pivotal time in cinema history. The series runs through September 2nd.

Outdoor movies are still lighting up Saturday summer nights throughout LA.

 On Saturday the 20th at The Page Museum - La Brea Tar Pits continues its B Movies and Bad Science series with  Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs  showing at 8:30. Bring a blanket and something to munch and be there by 7:30 to enjoy the pre-movie discussion with the Natural History VP of research and collections.  The museum itself is open until 5pm that afternoon so you could visit first, then make your way to the grass out front and settle in for a couple of hours before the movie starts.

Next door,  LACMA is open until 8pm so if you haven't seen the Tim Burton show why not visit  for an hour or so before making your way to the Tar Pits lawn? 

 Regular admission prices ( $15 for adults children are free) are in effect after 5pm on Saturdays and Tim Burton will cost you an additional $20 for adults,  children 17 and under are FREE.  Click here to purchase your tickets on line so you're not disappointed to find it "sold out."

Saturday night at La Cienega Park the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest screens Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. There's plenty to eat as several food trucks are scheduled to be on hand. Admission is $ 10 for adults, $5 for kids 6 - 15, children 5 and under are free. Doors open at 5:30 the band starts at 6:30 and the movie screens at 9 pm. It's here for all you need to know.

Saturday night up in Pacific Palisades you can cuddle up for warmth (I am not being sarcastic, we by the beach have barely seen the sun all summer) to watch Toy Story 2.  Movies start at dusk (8ish)

 All weekend at The Hollywood Bowl, with shows Friday at 8:30, Saturday at 8:30 and Sunday at 7:30, is Walt Disney's brilliant 1940 film, Fantasia.

  See this classic movie in the very best way possible, with a live orchestra playing the score to a film that itself celebrates classical music.  Tickets are available.



One of those unique events, the kind that makes me so glad I live in LA, is happening this Sunday in Santa Monica.

The third annual Cause For Creativity Tour Da Arts bike ride through Santa Monica with art stops along the way begins with a spoke card workshop at noon at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.  The bike ride starts at 2:30.  There's all kinds of fun going on: music, dance, art projects. All riders get a free bicycle bell (for you to ring along at the Grand Finale: The Bicycle Bell Ensemble) and the first 150 registered bikers get a free event bike bag.  The event is open to all ages (some restrictions apply) Click here for the complete schedule and to pre-register (recommended.)

Finally, depending on your point of view (I am for it) you can swing by or steer clear of Ocean Front Walk and Navy St. in Venice on Sunday to tip your hat - or flash your own or however the spirit moves you - to the topless folks baring it all for a woman's right to go topless with out getting arrested during International Topless Day.  2 -5. Sunday is also National Senior Citizens Day  so why don't you be nice to your Grandpa and drive him down to Venice Beach. 

Have a great weekend!

Do A Little Good With Your Back To School Shopping

Here comes back to school.  I'm not ready for it either. But, it is coming and along with all the emotional work you may need to do to get your kids out the door feeling up-beat and optimistic, you are also likely to have to do some shopping.  Backpacks, lunchboxes, maybe even books.  I don't want to tell you what we just spent on all the brand new books my incoming seventh grader had to have. The math book alone was $79! Crazy. We did have the option to purchase "previously used" for a few of them, and believe me I thought about it.  But I didn't want to do it this first year.

My son is going to a new school and I'm a little anxious.  Quick story - I grew up with very little money and one day I had to wear my brother's underwear to school because I only had about 5 pairs of my own and none of them was clean.  I tried to change for P.E in a stall but for some reason it couldn't happen. Nightmare in the locker room.  End of story.  So I ask myself - What ammunition for teasing might used books give mean kids? Look, I know this is stupid. I know that anybody who judges you based on your stuff is an idiot and that I should just make my kid tough out these kinds of  @%$holes.  But, at least for this 7th grade year, I want him to have the stuff that makes him comfortable. So, he's getting whatever sneakers he wants and I went for the new books.  Next year I'll be claiming at least one or two from the "previously used" column.

However you do your back to school shopping this year, do this - when you take your kids out, and especially if they start whining for something outrageously expensive, tell them about School on Wheels. While you are out at Target or CVS for supplies, maybe hitting Nordstrom's Rack (I saw a bunch of good back packs there last week) or some place for shoes, you can take a few minutes, and a few dollars, whatever you can spare, and get some new supplies for kids who are going to school with a tremendous burden.  School on Wheels is an organization that helps homeless kids get an education. There are more than 56,000 kids in the districts School on Wheels serve, kids living in motels, shelters, foster homes and on the streets.  They do terrific work connecting tutors with students and providing supplies for homeless kids.  And you and your kids can help.   Ask your kids if they would like to make a donation of money or supplies to kids who would love to go to school, just like they get to, but, for all kinds of reasons, need some help to make it happen.  I'm not pushing the guilt here but I do find it useful, when my kids are complaining, to tell them that school is a privilege.  They make amazing faces, then I tell them about the kids whose families can't send them to school because they need them to go to work making rugs or the family starves.  I talk about kids living in shelters who only have the chance to get to school a few times a month because the family never knows where they are going to be. Oh, I can really get going when I want to. There is no more complaining when I get through.

Take a look at the School on Wheels wish list.  Choose a few things on it, or even a dollar amount - $5 per child say.  If you can swing it, you can make a donation that will help a kid get tutored - $170 tutors a child for a year but any amount is gratefully accepted.  However you can help, please do and do it with your kids. Bring them to the store, put them in front of the computer to click the "make a donation" button. Give your kids an opportunity to do for others as they are getting things for themselves.  You'll start the school year off helping a child who really needs it and helping your own children feel like they can make a difference in the world.  And, just maybe, grateful for the all the advantages they have been given, like the chance to go to school. 

Poetry in the Palisades

High in the hills of the Pacific Palisades, open to the public on special occasions and otherwise reserved for artists in residence, is the beautiful Villa Aurora.

From the villa website: 
As a residence for artists, the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles is a place where German, European and American cultures cross paths as well as a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. One important aim of our programs is to hook our grant recipients up with important cultural institutions in L.A. as well as helping them develop a network of contacts in North America.
The activities of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles are built around three pillars: the resident artists program, the event venue and keeping alive the flame of Germany's cultural exiles.

This Saturday, August 20th, Villa Aurora, together with Venice institution Beyond Baroque, presents a Poetry Salon featuring 3 distinguished Los Angeles voices:  Suzanne Lummis, John Harris and Bill Mohr. 

Here, Suzanne Lummis offers some writing advice from the blog Writer's at Work-

The object is to enrich the language of your poetry and perhaps also trick yourself into writing a poem you wouldn’t have otherwise.   Sometimes it’s a poem your subconscious has been holding in its storage unit – you just needed the right key.   Open a dictionary at random, here and there, chose sensory, evocative words that you’ve never used in your poems, a selection of nouns, verbs and adjectives—words like puma, swagger and frothy, or gingerbread, captivate and fluorescent.   Add a mineral or precious stone, a celestial body, and a commercial brand name.   Now steal three words from a poet whose work you love (but make sure they’re not the poet’s signature words.   If it’s Plath don’t take “bald,” “hooks,” “moon”).   Put them on scraps of paper and choose a few blind.   Now, instead of starting with a topic or event then searching for the right words, you’ll let the words lead you to the poem’s subject.  Don’t be literal; don’t put everything in its logical context.  Go for the image, use the words in unpredictable ways, and mix them into areas where one wouldn’t expect to see such words.   Good luck.  Viva Poetry.


Excellent advice, right?  In fact, why don't you try it right now?  Go on, take that scrap of paper just above   your left hand there, pick up the pen at your right, and bring them together.  Closer. Now try it.

Get anything interesting?

For poetry and more inspiration plan to spend part of Saturday afternoon at the Villa Aurora. The reading begins at 3p.m.

A word for those readers whose curiosity is peaked but for whom there's some kind of resistance - yes, this is a poetry reading at a German/American cultural center.  I get that you may be skeptical.  And yes, to attend you may have to shift a little bit. Inside, I mean. You might have to slow down. You will have to navigate the old-fashioned way of making arrangements (more on this below.)  You will find yourself, when you get there, speaking in slightly hushed tones.

Oh, come back! Don't get all nervous!

Before this turns you off completely and you say something like "No way I'm going to some whispery poetry reading" realize that the likely lowering of voices is not because poetry is precious and special and intellectual and fancy.  Okay, yes, some people are going to be all like that about it and those people may annoy you, but those people are silly and hopefully young. They'll get over it. You can just smile at them. You can have faith in knowing that one day they'll learn what we know - Poetry is not inherently precious. Good poems are precious, yes, and I hope you have a few of these to see you through. But poetry is not some special, high-falutin' thing. Poetry is just words and good poetry is just words done well.  When you go to this or any reading, you and everyone else will naturally quite down a little, just like you would at a movie (hopefully.) But you will do it only so that there is a place in your head for the words to go. Same thing in an art gallery.  It's not because everything is exalted. It's not because everything is fancy.  It's just to make a little space.

Know this about poetry, and teach it to your children.  Poetry is for everyone.  You can call it rap, spoken word, free verse, hip hop, haiku, lyrics or classical verse. Whatever the form, whatever the language, the one thing that makes a collection of words "poetic" is that they, in the particular way they have been put together, capture something essential for the reader or listener. That's it. 

Now, about this Salon at the Villa Aurora.  You have to click here for information and then you have to call them at 310 454-4231 to find out exactly how to do this thing because it's not just drive up there and walk in. There's no parking. You park down the big hill on the corner of Los Liones and Sunset Blvd. and get on the shuttle, which starts running at 2p.m.  No big deal, just get all the information.   It's $5 for members and $10 for non-members.  And no kids under, I'd say, 15.  Enjoy.

Gone, Baby

 

 

O Best Beloved, they're true, those tales

come down to us from Way

Then.  In The Age of Money the money

vanished—overnight it did, as if

vacuumed through a funnel into deep space.

No one had it, the money. It didn't stew

in a bank or go forth and multiply.

Buried in the yard of the mad man it was not,

nor bent into wads and stuffed

in the robber's pocket.  It had not burned,

had not melted; no guttering molecules slid

back to earth, their nuclei hot and

circling the memory of money.

O Best, it went Gone. It went Ain't. It went

as if it had not been, as if our lives

had been nothing but dreamt things

and we weren't even the primary dreamers.

Beloved, now dream again.  It's late.

Close your eyes and think of that enchanted time

when money flowed from our palms like

blood through our veins.  Then dream

of The Age Before That, when we had only

to point and golden fruit dropped

to our hands.  And the most ancient

of all realms, imagine: The Era of Wands.

We waved them and, Lo, it appeared—

whatever we longed for.

And we never went hungry yet, somehow,

we always felt hunger, for there was always

more where that came from, and always

we wanted more.

Read more about ConnotationPress.com | Suzanne Lummis - Poetry by connotationpress.com

WOMAN AND APPLE

            - on a painting by Rachael McCampbell

 

Viewer, I may seem exposed

but this story belongs to me. Look

to the Northeast, those coppery

brushstrokes, how they hint

at shadow and flesh, bent knee, foot

peddling forward—Man who Exits                                                     

the Scene as if pulled

toward what happens next. 

But he’s not the same man who arrived

from some whereabouts, blinking

in the changed light, straining

to decipher my form;

he’s been re-configured, re-thought. 

And something took place here, beyond

the frame of your knowing. 

Note that my face conveys history,

the roil of slow-turning secrets,

while his form means only departure.

My feet languish in the spill

of heated snow, warmed-up rain,

five degrees cooler than my skin.

This means something.

You regard yourself as intelligent—

explain it to yourself.

And you’ve mastered a bit of French:

Ceci n’est pas une pipe. 

So of course there’s no apple,

just the bare, see-through idea

of apple. But did you know it’s a herring

(and slippery), a false lead?

In fact I’m dreaming of another fruit.

(Think autumn, crimson. It does not peel.)

Meanwhile, in a painting nearby,

something’s stopped—the small pump,

weight of a tongue tip, in a bird’s chest. 

The body falls, wing over

wing, searing a line through the air

only a bird’s eye could see.    

Dressed One, One Who Nods                                                               

and Moves On, did you imagine                                                         

I’d reveal myself to you?

Read more about ConnotationPress.com | Suzanne Lummis - Poetry by connotationpress.com

WOMAN AND APPLE

            - on a painting by Rachael McCampbell

 

Viewer, I may seem exposed

but this story belongs to me. Look

to the Northeast, those coppery

brushstrokes, how they hint

at shadow and flesh, bent knee, foot

peddling forward—Man who Exits                                                     

the Scene as if pulled

toward what happens next. 

But he’s not the same man who arrived

from some whereabouts, blinking

in the changed light, straining

to decipher my form;

he’s been re-configured, re-thought. 

And something took place here, beyond

the frame of your knowing. 

Note that my face conveys history,

the roil of slow-turning secrets,

while his form means only departure.

My feet languish in the spill

of heated snow, warmed-up rain,

five degrees cooler than my skin.

This means something.

You regard yourself as intelligent—

explain it to yourself.

And you’ve mastered a bit of French:

Ceci n’est pas une pipe. 

So of course there’s no apple,

just the bare, see-through idea

of apple. But did you know it’s a herring

(and slippery), a false lead?

In fact I’m dreaming of another fruit.

(Think autumn, crimson. It does not peel.)

Meanwhile, in a painting nearby,

something’s stopped—the small pump,

weight of a tongue tip, in a bird’s chest. 

The body falls, wing over

wing, searing a line through the air

only a bird’s eye could see.    

Dressed One, One Who Nods                                                               

and Moves On, did you imagine                                                         

I’d reveal myself to you?

Read more about ConnotationPress.com | Suzanne Lummis - Poetry by connotationpress.com

Last Days of the Barefoot Books Summer Sale

 Click here to see some of the very best books for kids, many of which are on sale now through August 15th. Barefoot publishes in English and Spanish and specializes in traditional tales told in a child friendly, modern way.  I love these books and story cds.  They have given me and my children many, many hours of happiness.  How much do I believe in them and think they are truly good for kids? They are, so far, the only advertisements I have accepted here at A Driveable Feast! Enjoy.

This Weekend in Los Angeles -The Weekend Feast for August 12th -14th, 2011

Grand Peformances  continues with FREE 8 p.m. Friday night concerts at California Plaza, downtown Los Angeles. August 12th it's Mariachi Mystery Tour, a cross-cultural interpretation of Beatles classics through Mariachi music.   Take a listen here, it's fun.


 Garden Concerts for Kids at the Getty are FREE family-friendly concerts weekends this summer.  Saturday and Sunday afternoon you and yours can enjoy Grammy nominated Brady Rymer and The Little Band that Could. Concerts are held in the Getty's Central Garden from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Admission to the Getty, as always, is free though parking is $15 per car.   But, for the future, parking is free after 5p.m. on Saturdays when the museum is open until 9p.m.  (if you wait this week you'll see about 5 minutes of The Little Band that Could.)

                                                           Brady Rymer


The Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood offers their behind the scenes tour this Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. 

This is a very cool tour featuring a look at the old dressing rooms, singers boxes and the projection room, parts of the gorgeously restored theater not normally included on the tours.  Meet at the box office, tours start promptly at 10:30 and run 60 minutes. Tickets are $5, reservations are not required as they have room for everyone but you can click here to get your tickets in advance if you're a planner.  The link will also give you directions and other important information.

After the tour I recommend you stay to watch Forever Hollywood, a 55 minute film celebrating the movies. I just eat this old Hollywood stuff up and my guess is any visitors you might have in town now will too.  The film is an additional $5. It's here for info.  Walkable lunch options afterward, since you've already paid for parking, could include the Hollywood and Highland Center, 2 blocks west.   If you need something kid friendly, if you're charged with making everyone visiting from Utah reasonably happy, I'd look at their options (i.e. California Pizza Kitchen)  If you'd like to be a bit more  adventurous, or are just willing to pay more for something good and not from a mall, take a look at seafood oriented The Hungry Cat,  the reasonable and well-rated Thai restaurant Soi 56,  or for a lovely lunch that will make you feel Hollywood glamorous, try Delphine in the W hotel.

 And don't forget all kid-friendly outdoor movies,  new dinosaurs, magic exhibits, and art we've got going on around town. Have a great weekend!

Enjoy A Day In California

Spend 2 minutes with this beautiful little film.  Allow yourself to be charmed by the tiny moving people.  Look at what we have created but more, look at what has been given to us, the very ground and rock and earth and air of this beautiful state. Remember that you know how small and insignificant,  and yet utterly precious we are, all at the same time. You might even feel, as I did, that you want to put your arms around the whole lot of us. When something makes me feel like that, I love to share it with you.


A Day in California from Ryan and Sheri Killackey on Vimeo.

A Day In California was made by Ryan and Sheri Killackey. Click here for more info or to tell them that you liked it.

Crazy Stupid Love

I had the pleasure of a full day alone with my 13 year old son. His father was at work, his brother at camp and, after we talked about basketball for as long as I could take it, we decided to go to the movies. He got to choose.

Here were the options:

Rise of the Planet of The Apes

Monkeys, destruction, this seemed like a no-brainer for him and I had heard it is actually pretty good so, though this kind of movie would usually fall into the category of "boys day" - my husband takes them to a movie and then to get pizza, I do anything else -  I was willing to take my son to an 11:30 showing.

or

Green Lantern

Which I figured at the least would be harmless and might even be fun. There was an 11:15 we could make.

Or, the only other movie that let out with enough time to get the younger one at camp -

Crazy Stupid Love

which I absolutely believed I would have to wait for the DVD to see.

Guess which one he choose?  Not the monkeys with their fire and destruction and other expenditures  meant to appeal to him. Not the green super hero. Yup, you got it.  He really wanted to see Crazy Stupid Love.

Now, I am perfectly willing to admit that it was this that was so enticing

Emma Stone

Ever so slightly bedroom-eyed but other wise very much the girl next door, Emma Stone is my just kid's type.  Yet, adorable as she is, there was more to his choice than that.

My son starts 7th grade in a few weeks. Middle school. Big lump in the throat, deep breath, remind myself that my nightmare is not destined to be revisited on my children middle school. Things are changing - bodies, feelings, relationships. It's a big, big, deal. And, in the way that they have for almost 100 years, movies can help.  He wanted to see Crazy Stupid Love because it's encouraging to watch people on a screen deal with and conquer things that are scary.  He wanted to see it because going to a movie about relationships that is targeted to adults feels very grown up, in a way that talking monkeys and big guns never, ever will and are not designed to, arrested development being the thing most movie executives count on, summer after summer, to fill the till.   He wanted to see it and he wanted to see it with me because seeing movies like Crazy, Stupid Love and talking about them afterward, laughing together about the funny parts,  keeps our relationship strong, our mother/son communication vibrant and easy and just plain going.  We both feel the larger world coming. I know and he senses the weight, the import, so many things other than the family will have in the coming years. This is natural and it is right and still it hurts a little.  I mean, you want to talk about crazy love?  Have a baby.   

So, I guess this is a movie review.  I give Crazy Stupid Love 4 stars. The cast is great.  It's well written, charming, full of surprises and has this -

                                                         Julianne Moore

 to give us hope

this to charm us and make us laugh

                                               Steve Carell
and this

                                                 Ryan Gosling

to do with as you will.  As a friend of mine said the night she saw the film, "This morning I didn't know the difference between Ryan Renolds and Ryan Gosling. I know now."

Not that Ryan Renolds is some kind of slouch himself.

Additionally, in case you don't know, and how would you as the ads don't make a point of it, other significant characters in Crazy Stupid Love are a 13 year old boy very well played by Jonah Bobo and a 17 year old girl portrayed by the lovely Analeigh Tipton.

 In these waning days of summer, take a hot afternoon to see a movie. If it's apes for you so be it, but I recommend Crazy Stupid Love for you and your teenage kids. You'll laugh and cringe and enjoy being together with the universal feelings this funny film explores before it all starts back up again.

Jazz Concerts in Santa Monica

Swing gently back into your work-week head with a FREE concert tonight on the lawn of Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main St.  As a part of the Jazz on the Lawn series you can enjoy the sounds of Theo Saunders and Intergeneration - global groove and straight-up swing.

Concerts run Sunday nights through August from 5p.m. to 7p.m.  FREE parking is available after 4p.m.  in the Civic Auditorium parking lot, 1855 Main St. and a bike valet will be on hand in the parking lot north of City Hall.    The Lake Street Creamery truck will be there to provide the treats.  It's here for information and the complete summer schedule.

Weekend Feast August 5th - 7th

Enjoy a fun afternoon of food, wine and beer to benefit the Boys And Girls Club of Santa Monica at Saturday's Toast and Taste.  This family-friendly event features a silent auction, live entertainment, a staffed playground and food truck mania! The event runs from 2 p.m until 8p.m at 1238 Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica. Click here for details and tickets ( $29 in advance and $39 at the door.)


 Food for a good cause can also be had on Saturday night at Plate by Plate, the 9th annual food and wine tasting benefit for Project by Project, Los Angeles.  Live music, photo booths and some of the best food and wine in the city in a beautiful venue

 and all for a good cause -  it's here for full details.

 For a different kind of food experience, one with a touch of mystery, consider the Urban Farmer's Dinner also on Saturday the 6th on a secret rooftop location in downtown Los Angeles. All food and beverages served will be created from locally produced ingredients.  The meal is a presentation of the Institute of Domestic Technology.  Did you know we had such a place? Me neither - it's a new discovery!  Formed just this year, the Institute's mission is to "reignite the passion of how we make food, the ingredients we source and the farms on which they originate." They offer classes and workshops, tours and events.  It's here for tickets to the dinner and other info.

On Saturday night, August 6th at 7:30 p.m. The Tree People present and event for the whole family -  Animals From Around The World, live animals in an interactive presentation with fun guys from the Wildlife Learning Center.  Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 kids 4-12 and kids under 3 are free.  The Tree People do great work in our community and they have a terrific line-up of events scheduled for their Once Upon A Canyon Night series now through mid-September so check them out.

 Also on Saturday night is the LA Dance Invitational, a wonderful line-up of some of the very best dancers and choreographers working today. Tickets are still available to the performance happening at the Ford Theater at 8:30.

Shake and sing along to a live stage production of Hairspray at The Hollywood Bowl for 3 shows this weekend, Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 7:30. The splendid cast includes Harvey Fierstein, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Corbin Blue and John Stamos.  I would certainly take kids to see this and can tell you from personal experience that my boys love this show: the music is great, the dancing wiggly and fun and it even has a great message. Hairspray is suitable for kids 8 and up.

 Something wonderful is happening at the beautiful Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum up in Topanga as their Family Fundays program takes place on both Saturday and Sunday mornings this weekend.  Saturday you and your kids can enjoy the interactive fun of Creative Playground's production of The Velveteen Rabbit. On Sunday it's the funny Barney Saltzberg, children's book author and singer. All shows are at 11am, tickets for those over 2 are $9.  Click here to see the schedule for the rest of August.

Happy Birthday, Percy Bysshe Shelley

A little poetry, dear readers, with your afternoon tea -

The fountains mingle with the river   
And the rivers with the ocean,   
The winds of heaven mix for ever   
With a sweet emotion;   
Nothing in the world is single, 
All things by a law divine   
In one another's being mingle—   
Why not I with thine?   
   
See the mountains kiss high heaven,   
And the waves clasp one another; 
No sister-flower would be forgiven   
If it disdain'd its brother;   
And the sunlight clasps the earth,   
And the moonbeams kiss the sea—   
What is all this sweet work worth 
If thou kiss not me? 

Percy Bysse Shelley, whose birthday it is today

Heavenly Biscuits in Los Angeles

 Marcus Nisson for the New York Times

Did you see this picture and the accompanying article "You Are Making Your Biscuits Wrong"  in the Times Magazine ( sorry, T)  on July 21st? Are you, like me, still thinking about it? If not you can probably skip this post.  But if you are,  I have your biscuit for you - the buttery, crusty little scoop of heaven at Gjelina Take Away, 1427 Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice.  I know, this place drives me crazy too. Don't even get me started on the too small, too hot, not enough choices,  and - I'm just gonna say it at the risk of loosing my "foodie" status - bitter coffee.  Walk 2 blocks up the street for equally hip, equally well "sourced" and actually delicious coffee at Intelligentsia.  BUT the biscuits at GTA are truly perfect - a big word I admit and I realize I am opening myself to disagreement - but I had yet another GTA biscuit for breakfast this morning, which makes at least a dozen since they opened in June (yikes) so, while I'm not going to win any swimsuit competitions, I do feel qualified to tell you that these things are sublime.  With jam, without, it's your choice ( yes, you actually do have some choices at Gjelina.)   The other baked treats are terrific too: scones change daily but you usually have a choice of 2, some kind of fruit filled turnovers, a muffin or 2, coffee cake and what may be the best English muffins in the city.   But, holy cow, those biscuits.  If you'd like to make your own, the recipes in T look like a good place to start, at least until Gjelina publishes a cookbook.

National Night Out

Tonight marks the 28th anniversary of National Night Out, the nationwide community-police partnership program designed to promote awareness and create safer neighborhoods.  Last year 37 million people across the country participated in one of 15,000 NNO events.

Events are scheduled in many different areas of our city including downtown,  Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Inglewood, and - my winner for "best theme" - West Hollywood with Give crime and drugs a going-away party!

For a full list of events click on the LAPD website here,  scan the left-hand column and download the schedule.  Even if you can't make an official event tonight, take a moment to turn on your outdoor lights, say hello to your neighbors and remember that we're all in this together.

Final Week of Paris: Life And Luxury At The Getty

Paris: Life and Luxury at the Getty is closing this Sunday, August 7th. That means you have one more week to put the kids in camp, grab a girlfriend for lunch with a view, then loose yourselves for an hour or two in this lovely show.

If you are able to go on Thursday, you can enjoy a curator gallery talk at 1:30 p.m.  Meet under the stairs in the museum's Entrance Hall. Guided talks are FREE and no reservations are required. If you're planning to take your kids to the exhibit, have them click here for a related art game they can download and play prior to visiting.

As always admission to the Getty is free, parking is $15 per car.