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We have collectively survived 2018, despite the many ways and numerous days that sseemed in doubt.
So, now, unless you're a football addict or nursing a hangover too big to fit your head through the door, the question arises of what to do. Not simply with a day off, but with THE day that can set the tone for the 364 to follow.
So here ya go!
We offer:
☆ Our GUIDE TO THINGS TO DO, followed by
☆ Our NEW YEAR'S NEWS (Gnu Ear's) commentary.
Only the first of our EVENTS LISTINGS is for something you can't do today, January 1st. BUT, YOU CAN ONLY DO IT for a short few remaining days, THROUGH JANUARY 13th, AND it's the GUIDE'S TOP PICK for how to start 2019. So it earns top-billing.
EVERYTHING ELSE LISTED BELOW HAPPENS TODAY, New Year's Day.
Let's get started!
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Daily, through Jan. 13 (except Jan. 1st):
10 am-6:30 pm -- "KING TUT: TREASURES OF THE GOLDEN PHARAOH" at The California Science Center in Exposition Park, 39th and Figueroa, L.A., CA.
* Okay, the Science Center is CLOSED New Year’s Day. NEVERTHELESS, this needs to be number-one on your list for 2019.
* This is THE GUIDE'S TOP PICK FOR HOW TO START THE NEW YEAR. And you've got until JANUARY 13th to do it. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition!
* It's been extended from the scheduled closing date (Jan. 6th) through a final day of January 13, 2019, along with extended closing hours.
* NON-FLASH personal use PHOTOGRAPHY is allowed.; videography is not allowed inside of the exhibit, and selfie sticks, tripods, and monopods are not permitted inside the exhibit.
* Now through the final day (Jan. 13), the last ticket time is 5 pm, and the exhibition closes 90 minutes after that. All other Science Center exhibits also close at 5 pm. But seriously, go in the morning and make no other plans for the rest of the day.
* Space Shuttle Endeavour admission is included with your KING TUT or IMAX ticket (Endeavour closes at 5 pm). Take your ticket to the Endeavour queue on the 2nd floor for that admission.
* To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, the California Science Center proudly presents the world premiere of "KING TUT: TREASURES OF THE GOLDEN PHARAOH" – the largest King Tut exhibition ever toured.
* You won't simply see what's there. You'll find yourself incapable of suppressing the stream of "WOWS!" As you discover over 150 authentic artifacts from King Tut’s celebrated tomb. Sixty of them have never traveled outside of Egypt, until now.
* It's not just a "come-and-see" "lookey here what we brung you" series of displays. This is a thoroughly interpretive, often interactive dramatic new presentation.
* There are dazzling multimedia aspects, lighting, backgrounds, and extensive backlit labels you can't stop yourself from reading.
* It all complements rare and utterly unique artifacts to take guests on an immersive journey of the pharaoh’s quest for immortality.
* You can examine the things you've seen Zahi Hawass describe on TV. Things like the exquisite rings found on King Tut’s fingers, opulent jewelry that adorned his body, and the gold sandals placed on his feet upon burial.
* Discover how the scientific analysis of King Tut’s 3,300-year-old mummy has revealed new information about his health and lineage, and how cutting-edge technologies have played a role in discovering new tombs and analyzing existing ones in ways never before imagined.
* Audio Guide rentals are offered in English, French, Spanish, and Mandarin, and worth the extra cost.
* The Imax theatre film, "Mysteries of Egypt," is also a fine addition. But the must-do is simply to allow yourself as many hours as it takes to savor your face-to-face encounters, examinations, and contemplations with the artifacts.
* NOTE there is NO re-entry into the KING TUT exhibit after leaving, so visit the restroom and don't start out hungry. In your favor? The exhibit is divided into two parts, and you do exit the first part (which is probably 80% of the exhibition) before you enter the second part. That's when to eat lunch and/or see "Endeavor" or find "the facilities."
* The California Science Center does not provide personal property storage, holding, or check in, and backpacks must be small and worn in-front. You'll appreciate that you don't get clobbered when somebody else turns around.
* Parking and traffic? Skip traffic and Go Metro. Take the Expo Line directly to Expo Park/USC Station and walk less than five minutes through the Rose Garden.
* GET TICKETS IN ADVANCE (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, to be sure you'll get in, and to avoid a long line at the box office): https://californiasciencecenter.org/visit/admission/king-tut-admissions
* More info, including late additions: https://californiasciencecenter.org/exhibits/king-tut-treasures-of-the-golden-pharaoh
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TODAY-ONLY EVENTS, Jan. 1, 2019...
10 am–4 pm -- THE AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST in Griffith Park is OPEN with FREE ADMISSION on NEW YEAR’S DAY.
* The Autry offers free admission today during regular museum hours. You can see the final days of "Rick Bartow: Things You Know But Cannot Explain," which closes January 6.
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10:30 am-4 pm -- "2019 JAPANESE NEW YEAR'S OSHOGATSU FESTIVAL" is FREE at three locations in L.A.'s Little Tokyo.
* There's taiko drums and shishimai lion dancers on stage on the first level of the Weller Court Shopping Center, followed there by more, and programs in the Japanese Village Plaza and Frances Hashimoto Plaza. Catch a demonstration of how mochi is traditionally made, and meet this year’s "Nisei Week Queen" and her Court. Plus calligraphy demonstrations, kimono and Harajuku-style fashion shows, anime booths, Japanese street food, and more. Food costs, the rest is free.
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Noon -- MAGNOLIA STREET JAZZ BAND plays Joe's Great American Bar & Grill, 4311 W Magnolia Bl, Burbank, CA; 818-729-0805.
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1:30 pm -- THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART -- LACMA -- offers a special 20-minute "TOUR: IN FOCUS" today at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Bl, L.A.; 323-857-6000.
* Meet near the Hammer Building Ticket Office. It's free, after you pay general admission.
* Explore several related artworks on this 20-minute tour. Discover new connections in this exploration of the diversity of LACMA’s collection.
* Since its inception in 1965, LACMA has been devoted to collecting works of art that span both history and geography and represent Los Angeles's uniquely diverse population. Today, the museum features particularly strong collections of Asian, Latin American, European, and American art, as well as a contemporary museum on its campus.
* With an expanded space for contemporary art, the museum touts its "innovative collaborations with artists, and an ongoing Transformation project," LACMA "is creating a truly modern lens through which to view its rich encyclopedic collection."
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2 pm -- "MARX BROS. FILM FEST" screens "DUCK SOUP" and "A DAY AT THE RACES" with an introduction by Andy Marx, today at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood.
* The theatre was built in the 1920s by Sid Grauman at the height of Tutmania following archaeologist Howard Carter's discovery of the lost 3,000-year-old tomb. The pharaoh-themed theater screens rare, indie & classic movies.
* "DUCK SOUP" (1933) Universal, 68 min, Dir: Leo McCarey.
Margaret Dumont appoints Groucho (Rufus T. Firefly) as Prime Minister of Freedonia, and he promptly declares war on a neighboring country for no particular reason. Features a legendary mirror sequence and Harpo and Chico’s mercurial harassing of the lemonade vendor.
* "A DAY AT THE RACES" (1937) Warner Bros., 111 min, Dir: Sam Wood. The Marx Brothers’ second (and most expensive) MGM film serves up Groucho as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, who arouses all sorts of suspicion as the new head of a posh sanitarium -- and with good reason: He’s actually a veterinarian! Includes the celebrated "tootsie-fruitsie" and examination routines, plus a tremendous cast including Maureen O’Sullivan, Allan Jones, Douglass Dumbrille, Sig Ruman, Esther Muir and, of course, Margaret Dumont.
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6 pm -- HUNTER PERRIN & THE WILD CARDS play Three Clubs, 1123 N Vine St, Hollywood, CA.
* This weekly Happy Hour residency with Hunter Perrin & The Wild Cards runs every Tuesday 6-8 pm on the Lounge Stage.
* It's no, cover, $5 tequila shots, free tacos with purchase.
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7-9 pm -- "TACOS & TRIVIA TUESDAYS" holds SWAY at Angel City Brewery, 216 S Alameda St, L.A., CA
* This weekly institution celebrates all things “T” with tacos and trivia. Downtown Taco serves-up their grilled tacos at the Public House and brain exercises ensue at 7 pm sharp with trivia from King Trivia.
* Angel City Brewery is part of the downtown renaissance, bringing old-world, small-batch, craft brewing to the expanding Arts District. Open to the public with 8+ beers on tap, and daily tours and tastings.
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7-10 pm -- LOONEY’S FORTUNE roots-acoustic band with PATTI AMELOTTE and her hammered dulcimer, play "WinterFest OC - Dickens Village" at the OC Fairgrounds, Anaheim Building, in Costa Mesa, CA.
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7 pm -- BARBARA MORRISON, blues and jazz great, plays Pop's on La Brea, 1356 S La Brea Av, L.A., CA; 323-954-7477.
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7-9 pm -- "NORTH COUNTY BLUEGRASS CLUB NIGHT" in N San Diego Co., at 1161 E Washington Av, Escondido, CA 92025.
* For those in the North San Diego County area, the "North County Bluegrass and Folk Club" sponsors "Bluegrass Night" the first Tuesday, every month. These "First Tuesday Music Nights" are free, open to all, offering live bluegrass and folk music.
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7:30 pm -- "NEW YEARS DAY WITH TED Z AND THE WRANGLERS" happens out in the East desert at the legendary Pappy and Harriet's Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Rd, Pioneertown, CA (near Yucca Valley & Joshua Tree); 760-365-5956.
* It's FREE, no cover, ALL AGES. They have a full bar and full restaurant menu; just get seated to eat where you can hear the music.
* It's been a long time since We've told you about this venue, so it's time to that again. The legendary Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace has been delighting locals and travelers alike since 1982, with its mesquite barbeque, live music, dancing and friendly service. There is also a long history here.
In 1946, Pioneertown was founded by a group of Hollywood investors with dreams of creating a living movie set -- an 1870's frontier town with facades for filming and interiors open to the public. On the outside were stables, saloons, and jails, and on the inside, were ice cream parlors, bowling alleys, and motels. ROY ROGERS, GENE AUTRY, RUSSELL HAYDEN, and the SONS OF THE PIONEERS (for whom the town was named) were some of the original investors and personalities who helped build and invent Pioneertown.
More than 50 films and several television shows were filmed in Pioneertown throughout the 1940's and 1950's. In 1946, where Pappy & Harriet's stands today, was a facade used as a "cantina" set for numerous western films well into the 1950s.
In 1972, Harriet's mother, Francis Aleba, and her husband, John, purchased the building and opened "The Cantina", an outlaw biker burrito bar. The Cantina rollicked for 10 years, and when it closed, Francis and John made sure the building stayed in the family.
In 1982, Harriet and her husband, Claude "Pappy" Allen, opened "Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace." While the bikers still hung around, Pappy & Harriet's presence created more of a family atmosphere. With family style Tex-Mex cuisine and live music featuring Pappy, Harriet and their granddaughter Kristina, P&H quickly became a local favorite with all walks of life getting along under one roof.
When Pappy died in 1994, his friends and fans flew from all over the world to be at P&H for a celebration of his life.
VICTORIA WILLIAMS, a good friend of Pappy and touring partner, wrote the song "Happy To Have Known Pappy" and put it on her critically-acclaimed record "Loose." It musically memorializes that day.
Harriet sold the bar to a family friend who gave it up after a few years.
Then came Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz, two New Yorkers who loved P&H and wanted to see it returned to its glory days. The girls bought the club in 2003 and have done just that.
Musicians from SIR PAUL McCARTNEY to ROBERT PLANT to VAMPIRE WEEKEND to LEON RUSSELL to SEAN LENNON and many more have graced the P&H stage, often playing with no advance notice. If you're there the right night, you might get the musical surprise of your life. The legendary bar has become an Americana and an alt-country mecca and an indie rock favorite with a vibe that can't be matched. Pappy & Harriet's continues the tradition of live music, great barbeque, and good times in memory of Pappy and all those who came before him.
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Our New Year's NEWS feature...
HAPPY GNU EAR
Go ahead. Roll your eyes. Then give us a minute to talk about it, okay? It's fun and, yeah, well, it gets serious, too.
We'll start with the quick part. The Ear part. Our devices are making us deaf. The "ear bud" in particular is the subject of studies that consistently show significant hearing loss in an entire young generation who lives plugged-in, tbeir thumbs the only parts that visibly move for prolonged periods, as they sit affixed to the spot, hunched-over, showing the world only the tops of their heads and oblivious to everything around them because the loud volumes in their ear buds drown-out all other sounds.
If you're not hopelessly offended already, let's get to the Gnu part. Which may be new to a lot of folks.
The Gnu is also called the "Connochaetes" and the "Wildebeest." It is an actual, not a cyberian, living thing.
Technophiles will immediately tell you that GNU is from their realm and there was a multimilliondollar fight over which of two tech gurus owned the rights to the name and what was done with it. The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. Variants are now widely used, referred to as "Linux," but if you get past the way that corporate money writes the history of our times, those systems are GNU/Linux systems.
And that tale is a metaphor for the BS and baloney of the artificial, greed-centered, arrogantly elevated status we have given ourselves as a species disconnected from the reality of the only kind of "interconnected" that ultimately matters -- the indispensible interdependency of natural systems required for us to be here at all.
Before the world became enamored with, then addicted to, fantasy-based virtual reality -- and along the way, disengaged from real-reality -- the Gnu was an animal. And in a more serious manifestation of our modern disengaged greed and arrogance, that animal nearly is a "was," instead of an "is."
To many who have beheld them, the Gnu is not an especially noble or attractive creature. Yet much we hold in esteem -- including the noble lion -- is entirely dependent upon the Gnu.
Culturally, as we have seen, there have been intrusions of something new that evokes the Gnu.
A cute puppet Gnu appeared in the musical number, "The Gnu," in episode 519 of "The Muppet Show." Per the lyrics to the song, the gnu pronounced "G"s and "K"s in words where they are meant to be silent, and added them in other words where they do not exist. Since the bit worked, the Gnu muppet also appeared in a few other episodes of the show.
Culturally too, there is the obscure cultish novel "Going Postal" by Sir Terry Pratchett. In it, semaphore operators send the names of their fallen comrades back and forth along the semaphore system.
The characters' code translates as follows:
G: General broadcast, send in all directions.
N: Do not log the message.
U: Sent the message back when it reaches the end of the line.
It was a literary plot device. By sending the code and the name, the operators kept the names of combat dead cycling the system, in their context, forever. For Pratchett, it was similar to the notion of the ancient Greeks, and before them, the ancient Egyptians, that a person is never gone while others still speak their name.
Now, we're talking about the Gnu as a fellow traveler on this blue orb.
The "Gnu," aka the "Wildebeest," is a large migratory antelope weighing from 350 to 550 pounds that is native to the grassy plains and open woodlands of Southern, Central, and eastern Africa.
Now, "Gnu" dates to 1777 for both of the two large African antelopes -- Connochaetes gnou and Connochaetes taurinus -- and "Wildebeest" only goes back to 1824. The original African name is "Khoikhoi t'gnu," and derives from the language of the Hottentots. Gnu is the San people (Bushman) term for these animals; wildebeest is Afrikaans.
So Gnu is old compared to today's more dominant name.
You probably thought this was all just a joke.
Gnu is a fun name. Except we may soon be using it like Triceratops, Tyrannosaur, Mastodon, and Dodo. The old Gnu is in trouble.
Connochaetes taurinus is the silver-gray, white-bearded critter of the eastern African plain, a region experiencing war, drought, poaching, and expanding desertification. Connochaetes gnou is the black, white-tailed gnu of central South Africa, recently identified as near extinction for its own set of human-based reasons. The South African gnu is now protected, but still struggling to survive, and it could go either way. The Gnu plays a critical role as prey for Africa's large predators, and its dung is at the base of several food chains that start with insects and birds and go up to name-brand, more majestic animals.
"In short, no gnus is bad news — and gnu populations are on the decline," wrote Ryan P. Smith in Smithsonian, in "How Noisy Males Control the Gnu’s Cycle," July 11, 2018 edition.
Nearly all wild species have spent millions of years adapting to succeed in the places where they live. Factor-in people exploitively changing things for economic gain, and wildlife can't adapt fast enough. The Gnu -- or Wildebeest -- only mates once a year, and offspring arrive and need care when the driest season almost eliminates needed water and grazing. It's arrogant of us to think they should figure that out, and change.
Smith continued, "If wildebeests mated all across the calendar year, their sparse youngsters would be picked off by predators at every turn."
How do we know things about whether animal populations are declining?
Mostly because we can observe and measure range -- how much land (in a given environment) that a viable population of a species needs to sustain itself -- and we can see and measure how humans are destroying wild lands, aka habitat, and decreasing the places suitable for age-old natural systems to make a living.
That happens directly, through a tragedy of expanding human populations usurping wild lands in places that can, at best, only marginally sustain more people.
And it happens because human-caused climate change rapidly destroys the ability of wild lands to provide habitat for a balance of species that have always been there, at least for hundreds of thousands of years.
The latter has somehow become politicized. Which is totally insane, and benefits only those who seek unbridled exploitation with no regard for what they leave in their wake.
We also know more from the multidimensional capabilities of underfunded but persistent science that constantly confronts us with evermore inconvenient truths. And in so doing, becomes the enemy of greed and exploitation.
"Polar bears, whales, penguins, seals, wildebeest, and more have all been captured [i.e., identified, observed and counted] by satellite remote sensing," wrote Helena Pozniak in Popular Mechanics, "The Technology that Will Finally Stop Poachers," Nov. 26 2018 edition.
It's the technology that can stop a lot of things. Or it can remain the province of the exploiters who pay for it to seek out more of anything that can be exploited.
As a new year dawns, it's a good opportunity for us to decide which of those things we employ it to do. Especially if we want new generations to see the Gnu -- other than in the museum of extinct species from a lost world.
Obtuse discussions of exiting Paris Climate Accords and returning to coal-based energy generation mean nothing Gnu. As in no Gnus. No lotsa things.
A New Year is a new opportunity. A Gnu opportunity. So Happy Gnu Ear.
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That's all for this edition. Stay tuneful!
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We'll be back again soon with music news and more "News of the Non-Trumpcentric Universe." (c)
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LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...
Boilerplate? Where's the main pressure gauge? And the firebox?
What "boilerplate"? Who came up with that goofy term for the basic essential informational stuff...
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♪ The ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE endeavors to bring you NEWS – and views of interest to artists everywhere – more specifically to musicians and the creative community and music makers and fans of acoustic and Folk-Americana music. That includes both traditional and innovative forms. From the deepest roots to today’s acoustic renaissance, that’s our beat. We provide a wealth of resources, including a HUGE catalog of acoustic-friendly venues (now undergoing a major update), and inside info on FESTIVALS and select performances in Southern California in venues from the monumentally large to the intimately small and cozy. We cover workshops, conferences, and other events for artists and folks in the music industry, and all kinds o’ things in the world of acoustic and Americana and accessible classical music. From washtub bass to musical spoons to oboe to viola to banjo to squeezebox, from Djangostyle to new-fangled-old-time string band music, from sweet Cajun fiddle to bluegrass and pre-bluegrass Appalachian mountain music to all the swamp water roots of the blues and the bright lights of where the music is headed now.
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The Acoustic Americana Music Guide. Thanks for sittin' a spell. The cyber porch'll be here anytime you come back from the road.
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