.
Whoa up, thar', pard! While You'll find good stuff here, this is NO LONGER THE LATEST edition.
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Everyone is adjusting to the new paradigm. Even the science-denying "Jesus rode a dinosaur" espousers are accepting that COVID-19 Coronavirus is a global pandemic.
Here at the Guide, we were among the very first -- back in February -- to publish a thorough and comprehensive analysis of what the virus could bring. We included the context of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, as well as the potential for rapid spread and likely impacts of a rampant Coronavirus on music and the arts, health care, the economy, and the larger society. We are quite proud of that comprehensive feature story, and you can still read it in the archived edition, here.
Things are changing fast. Is it ethical to list places for you to go?
At the same time, we have also stayed with our usual mission of keeping you informed about live music, theatre, film, and arts events you can attend in Southern California, and music and arts festivals over a vastly wider area. We have presented updates on event cancellations, together with facts, fears and practical personal precautions to stay healthy.
We've worked hard to be a knowledgeable, trusted, trustworthy source
We've offered analyses based on our research and our reporting, often written-for and published elsewhere. Each day, we could see parts of the information that we, so recently, had to dig-out to report, suddenly arriving everywhere else, and by the dump truck load to bury news of everything else.
That much was gratifying, since mainstream media was suddenly taking things seriously that we told our readers were seriius, bsck in February. But sadly, that wasn't the whole thing. Having so recently done our research and litened to medical authorities in epidemiology and infectious diseases, we quickly discerned that some of these other "news" sources were mixing some measure of fact with a lot of stupid crap that was oblivious to science and medicine and was instead seeming only to politicize everything.
So why is stopping a pandemic "political"-?
We have called-out the politically-driven exploiters and compared them to the 1918 examples of World War I's warring sides, wherein each tried to blame the other with crazy accusations that their adversary had introduced the killer Influenza pandemic as a weapon of war. We have attacked the lunacy of trying to characterize COVID-19 as "A foreign virus" as a means to get funding for a border wall.
Our purpose was to reveal misdirected resources a century ago and now, as the pursuit of certain interests for their own agenda interfered with a full-court press to understand and stop a deadly disease. We called atrention to what we were seeing, as alarmist and minimalizing messages collided to cause panic on Wall Street, and we likewise wrote about rational and irrational panic on main street. We even commented on the "viral panic" buying of (of all things) toilet paper, along with construction-grade dust masks that can't filter microorganisms, anyway.
Yesterday, as we tried to get the top of our snorkel above the tsunami of incoming notices of concert and event cancellations, postponements, and venue closures, we dropped everything when we saw one, in particular. That one made us decide to go see what was suddenly the last day of an utterly amazing exhibition. You can't see it now, because the venue is closed 'til further notice for public health concerns. We did take time to tell our readers they could still go, before it closed last night at 5 pm.
It was the major exhibition of artifacts and objects from ancient Egypt, recovered by archaeologists from two cities that sank into the Mediterranean. We deemed it worth the risk, and we clipped our little bottle of hand sanitizer to our beltloop, and went to the Reagan Presidential Library to their cavernous special exhibition space.
Following our own advice
Yes, we have disinfected the camera, and the shoes and clothes were changed as soon as we got home. That new ritual still seems awkward, but, hey, talk to the Japanese who lived near Fukishima about all the precautions and self-protective measures they have lived with since a nuclear meltdown.
Now, we do not have any current reason to expect close contact with anyone in the most vulnerable age range for Coronavirus. We, in fact, expect to limit our social interaction and likely won't be attending concerts or theater the rest of this month, anyway. And we knew those things before we went to enjoy and be inspired by monumental relics of an ancient civilization that flourished far longer than ours has.
Supplying context is essential
So, here is where you expect to see us say, "It's all a matter of individual choice, like drinking or choosing a cell phone provider."
Well not quite. Because you don't drink and get behind the wheel, and you don't get on your cell phone while you're driving. Point is, being responsible to innocent others does not mean we all get to do whatever we want. How would any of us feel if we learned someone had died because something we did -- or failed to do -- gave them a disease that killed them?
Recently, we promised to bring you context when we discussed things. Well, there you are.
More context? It isn't just Uber and Lyft and DoorDash drivers who are suddenly looking at no way to earn the income to buy food for their kids or pay the rent. Think of the original "gig economy" entrepreneurs -- musicians who do live performances. That's where the word "gig" came from. So, should we support them by going to the venues where they play? Where other people, who work at the venues, also risk unemployment (or already are unemployed if their workplace shut-down).
We have published and re-published "Practical Personal Precautions" to get you through the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, and we're including it again in this edition, added-on at the very end so you scroll down like a slot machine and get to it right away.
Beyond looking out for ourselves, there is a need to think of the larger community
We are advocates of an emergency program of direct checks that enable everyone who is economically hobbled to buy food for the family, pay rent and utilities, look for other employment, and buy the food their kids were getting as school breakfasts and lunches, if the schools are closed. We absolutely are NOT okay with the Trumpian proposal to temporarily cut payroll taxes, since thst only helps those who need the least help. Wait, you say: "Direct checks"-? From who, the government? Yep. Damn right. Defense contractors get direct checks for "cost overruns." Foreign governments get direct checks to make them like us. So, yes, the American people, in s society with too damn many who are already homeless, do not need to worry about continuing to work when they are sick, or having their kids and their stuff set out on the curb because they can't pay their already exorbitant rent.
So in this time of risky new paradigms to which our government reacted far too slowly -- be careful out there, and despite being six feet away from each other, turn-up your sense of community.
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Next week, we will further adjust our content to shift toward music you can watch, hear, enjoy, explore online, and a variety of online adventures of various origin.
With that in mind...
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Today is "Pi Day" ... as in, 3.14...
Celebrate Pi Day With NASA
It's Pi Day: Your annual excuse to eat pie in the name of math and make the rounds with your best food- and word-based puns. NASA will tell you, they couldn't explore Earth and space or do science without this stellar number. The Andrew Yang campaign for president may be over, but... You can do the math for yourself in the "NASA Pi Day Challenge," which features real problems faced by space explorers.
Wait: Math not your thing? Read about all the ways they use pi at NASA and how many decimals of the neverending number are really needed for their most exacting calculations. Plus, they sent us pi lessons to explore and resources for educators.
It's all below. Enjoy.
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On this day...
Et tu, March 14th...
On the night before the Assassination of Julius Caesar, today in 44 BCE, Casca and Cassius decide that Mark Antony should live.
Spain in the American Revolution...
In an unknown episode of the American Revolutionary War, and one that should remembered, today in 1780 Spanish forces captured Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama. It was the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in then-Spanish Louisiana.
Tech...
Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin today in 1794. Often cited as a milestone of the Industrial Revolution, Whitney believed his invention would help end slavery in the American South. Instead, it made cotton refinement easy, so more acres were planted and more slaves needed to harvest the single-crop agricultural product that made the South reliant on "King Cotton." Talk about unintended consequences!
Today in 1994, a milestone in the timeline of Linux development was met when Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released.
Live music...
W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's light opera, "The Mikado," got its first public performance in London today in 1885.
Music "talkie"...
The first all-sound film version of "Show Boat" opened at Radio City Music Hall today in 1936.
Silver threads and golden needles...
The "Gold Standard Act" was ratified today in 1900, placing U.S. currency on "the gold standard." It instantly made the rich even more powerful, since they were the only ones vested in gold. The middle class, who could afford silver, were wiped out when that metal's link to monetary value was ended. Democratic Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan made his famous "Cross of Gold" speech, charging the rich were crucifying the average folk on a cross of gold. He lost two elections and went on to back the creationists in the Scopes Monkey Trial. The gold standard, tying gold to currency and fixing its value at $32 an ounce, was finally changed to include silver, and that lasted until the Nixon presidency. Tricky Dick changed the game to make money worth nothing but its face value as "Federal Reserve Notes," and gold and silver prices went crazy on a world market where manipulators control the supply to keep prices ridiculously high.
Teddy's double-header...
US President Theodore Roosevelt signed two hugely momentous documents on this day in 1903.
The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was created, setting the precedent for more conservation of critical habitats.
Building the Panama Canal seemed assured today in 1903 with ratification by the US Senate of the Hay–Herrán Treaty, granting the US the right to construct it. But... The Senate of thr nation of Colombia would later reject the treaty. Whereupon the US would create a revolution for "Panamian Independence" to lop-off part of the sovereign nation of Columbia and make it the U.S. vassal nation of Panama, so Americans could build the canal on the originally intended route.
Big Oil...
Near Bakersfield, California, the Lakeview Gusher, the largest U.S. oil well ever to vent to atmosphere, began its eruption today in 1910. Makes you think of the oil volcano on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, eh? And how long we have been addicted to the carbon bomb goo.
Stopping infectious disease...
Orvan Hess and John Bumstead became the first in the US to successfully treat a patientusing penicillin, today in 1942. Her name was Anne Miller. Penicillin would save many more lives, though some proved allergic to it. Alas, like all subsequent antibiotics, it kills bacterial infection and viruses are immune.
Spaciness...
Today in 1995, Norman Thagard became the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian Soyuz launch vehicle. Since the sudden retirement of the Space Shuttle with no replacement, all US astronauts have had to hitch rides with the Russians.
Climate change's cruely wild weather...
Today in 2019, just one year ago, Cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1000 deaths.
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Happy Birthday today to...
Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
Billy Crystal, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
Billy Sherwood, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist
Michael Bland, American drummer and producer
Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben & Jerry's
Simone Biles, American gymnast
Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor
Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
Dario Bisso Sabàdin, Italian conductor and composer
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In memorium to musicians and influencers born on this date...
Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (1879-1955)
Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (1804-1849)
François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (1926-2018)
Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (1932-2015)
S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (1921-2014)
Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (1953-2013)
Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (1915-2005)
Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (1912-2001)
Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created "Dennis the Menace" (1920-2001)
Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (1914-1999)
Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (1922-1996)
Anita Morris, American actress and singer (1943-1994)
Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (1947-1993)
Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (1914-1981)
Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (1906-1972)
Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (1874-1951)
Alexey Troitsky, Russian composer and author (1866-1942)
Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (1681-1767)
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Today's & Sunday's events, & continuing events...
We list what has been scheduled and sent to us. Before going, check with the venue or producer to see if any given event has been cancelled or postponed by COVID-19 health exposure concerns.
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Saturday
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Saturday
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Sat, Mar 14:
Noon-2 pm - LEO KRETZNER with THE OLD GREY CATS bring Celtic Tunes and Songs to the Last Name Brewery, 2120 Porterfield Way, Upland CA 91786 (Just off Foothill/Route 66); 909-579-0032; http://lastnamebrewing.com
* Pre-Saint Patrick’s Day Irish fest all day at this fine local brewery/pub.
* OTHER GREAT FOLK BANDS FOLLOW ALL DAY & EVENING.
* No cover charge.
* Brew connoisseurs: Last Name Brewery, Claremont Craft Ales, and
Rok House Brewing -- all within 1/2 mile of each other, all hosting live music today.
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Sat, Mar 14:
"SHAMROCK 'n' ROLL" aboard the RMS Queen Mary, permanently docked at 1126 Queens Hwy, Long Beach CA 90802
* The Queen Mary presents a party that hosts claim "would make St. Paddy proud: Shamrock 'N' Roll!"
* Celebrate the revelry, tradition, and spirit of Ireland with a rocking event unlike any other.
* This features a lineup of live entertainment "sure to make you dance a jig all night long, with music perfect for fans of the 70's and 80's, Ska, punk, folk, soul, and of course, Irish rock," says the promo.
* Four diverse bands perform throughout the evening: YACHTLEY CREW, HOIST THE COLORS, THE UNTOUCHABLES, and DIRTY OLD TOWN.
* TIX, $30, at: https://www.seetickets.us/event/Shamrock-N-Roll/407629
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Sat, Mar 14:
1 pm-4 pm - PADDY'S PIG brings their energetic trad Irish music to the Bella Terra Beer Garden, 7777 Edinger Av, Huntington Beach CA 92647
* The St. Pat's weekend fest in Laughlin is on hiatus for the first time in several years. That freed-up the band to do this and several more Southern Cal gigs.
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Sat, Mar 14:
7 pm - LAURENCE JUBER plays the first of two shows for the Lord Of The Strings Concert Series , this one at Mission Viejo Civic Center, 100 Civic Center Dr, Mission Viejo CA 92691; 949-244-6656
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - KARLA BONOFF & LIVINGSTON TAYLOR play the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr, Irvine CA 92697; 949-854-4646
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - JAMES INTVELD plays the Arcadia Blues Club, 16 E Huntington Dr, Arcadia CA
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - THE FENIANS play the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano CA 92675; 949-496-8927
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CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - SARAH LEE GUTHRIE plays the Grand Annex, 434 W 6th St, San Pedro CA 90731; 310-833-6362
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - SIDELINE plays Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Bl, Culver City CA 90230; 310-398-2583
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - WE FIVE play the famous concert hall in back of McCabe's Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica CA 90405; 310-828-4497
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Sat, Mar 14:
9 pm - AARON NEVILLE plays the Canyon Club, 28192 Roadside Dr., Agoura Hills CA 91301; 818-879-5016
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Sat, Mar 14:
9 pm - LOONEY’S FORTUNE, a Trad. Irish Music Band, plus several other bands performing, at the Beach Hut Deli, 19025 Beach Bl, Beach Bl/ Garfield Av, Huntington Beach CA 92648; https://beachhutdeli.com/store/huntington-beach/
* Info: patti@pattiamelotte.com
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Sunday
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Sat, Mar 14:
1 pm-4 pm - PADDY'S PIG brings their energetic trad Irish music to the Bella Terra Beer Garden, 7777 Edinger Av, Huntington Beach CA 92647
* The St. Pat's weekend fest in Laughlin is on hiatus for the first time in several years. That freed-up the band to do this and several more Southern Cal gigs.
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Sat, Mar 14:
7 pm - LAURENCE JUBER plays the first of two shows for the Lord Of The Strings Concert Series , this one at Mission Viejo Civic Center, 100 Civic Center Dr, Mission Viejo CA 92691; 949-244-6656
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - KARLA BONOFF & LIVINGSTON TAYLOR play the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr, Irvine CA 92697; 949-854-4646
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - JAMES INTVELD plays the Arcadia Blues Club, 16 E Huntington Dr, Arcadia CA
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - THE FENIANS play the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano CA 92675; 949-496-8927
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CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - SARAH LEE GUTHRIE plays the Grand Annex, 434 W 6th St, San Pedro CA 90731; 310-833-6362
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - SIDELINE plays Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Bl, Culver City CA 90230; 310-398-2583
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Sat, Mar 14:
8 pm - WE FIVE play the famous concert hall in back of McCabe's Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica CA 90405; 310-828-4497
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Sat, Mar 14:
9 pm - AARON NEVILLE plays the Canyon Club, 28192 Roadside Dr., Agoura Hills CA 91301; 818-879-5016
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Sat, Mar 14:
9 pm - LOONEY’S FORTUNE, a Trad. Irish Music Band, plus several other bands performing, at the Beach Hut Deli, 19025 Beach Bl, Beach Bl/ Garfield Av, Huntington Beach CA 92648; https://beachhutdeli.com/store/huntington-beach/
* Info: patti@pattiamelotte.com
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Sunday
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Today is Sunday, March 15, 2020.
It is "The idea of March."
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Quote for today from one born on this date...
"Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer. ... The characters of Turgenev are ghetto dwellers. Dickens' characters are Nigerians. ... Literature may come from a specific place, but it always lives in its own unique kingdom."
~ Ben Okri, Nigerian novelist and poet.
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"Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer. ... The characters of Turgenev are ghetto dwellers. Dickens' characters are Nigerians. ... Literature may come from a specific place, but it always lives in its own unique kingdom."
~ Ben Okri, Nigerian novelist and poet.
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On this day...
Beware the Ides of March...
Julius Caesar, having failed to heed the warning from the soothsayer (at least according to Shakespeare) and refusing to stay home because his wife had a nightmare about his demise, went to the Roman Senate on this day in 44 BCE, 2,063 years ago.
There, as he was climbing the steps to enter, Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and his fellow conspirators, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators, crowded around Caesar in greeting, then drew their hidden daggers and stabbed him to death in an orgy of blood.
The assassins then marched to the Capitol following the killing, but got no response to their appeals claiming to have freed Rome from a tyrant. The population had fled the streets in fear.
Beware the Ides of March...
Julius Caesar, having failed to heed the warning from the soothsayer (at least according to Shakespeare) and refusing to stay home because his wife had a nightmare about his demise, went to the Roman Senate on this day in 44 BCE, 2,063 years ago.
There, as he was climbing the steps to enter, Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and his fellow conspirators, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators, crowded around Caesar in greeting, then drew their hidden daggers and stabbed him to death in an orgy of blood.
The assassins then marched to the Capitol following the killing, but got no response to their appeals claiming to have freed Rome from a tyrant. The population had fled the streets in fear.
Caesar's body remained in its place, awaiting Marc Antony's eulogy that began, as Shakespeare envisioned it, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones..."
It is one of the most famous speeches in the pantheon of the theatre, and a study in the psychological manipulation of public opinion that actually did take place, producing a multiphase Roman civil war.
It is one of the most famous speeches in the pantheon of the theatre, and a study in the psychological manipulation of public opinion that actually did take place, producing a multiphase Roman civil war.
Some see parallels with our time. Except Julius Caesar refused to be crowned king, as explained by the story at the link.
Civil Rights are voting rights...
Today in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave a televised speech to a joint session of Congress to demand legislation guaranteeing equal voting rights for all Americans. It was titled “The American Promise,” but became know for its closing quotation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, as the “We Shall Overcome” speech. Presidential leadership came so dramatically brcause eight days earlier, on March 7th, 600 people had begun a march in Alabama to demand voting rights for subjugated black Americans. They were stopped and violently attacked by local and state law enforcement who used clubs and tear gas on the unarmed peaceful protestors as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River. Carried live on television all over the world, the shocking scene is known to history as "Bloody Sunday."
In our time, the Republican-led US Senate allowed key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to expire in 2015, even as voter supression emerged nationally, engineered by former Kansas Sec'y of State Chris Kobach. Targeting of specific groups to prevent them from voting is once again rampant. It changed congressional, state legislature, and local election outcomes in some states in 2016, 2018, and in 2020's primaries (it will be a factor again in this year's November election, too) and not just in the South.
They needed that border wall: US invades Mexico (again)...
Today in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sends 4,800 US troops over the U.S.– Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa. Villa had raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, because the US was supporting his rival, Carranza, in a Mexican civil war. General John. J. Pershing would become famous, even though he never caught Villa. He gained his nickname "Blackjack Pershing" because he made use of his black "Buffalo Soldier" cavalry regiments.
Iranian / US bad blood / first cut is the deepest...
Iran nationalized its oil industry today in 1951. That angered the hell out of US based Big Oil, which had invested to develop the fields and refineries as key sources of Allied oil during WW II.
Thus, it became the first domino in a long, sad, still dangerous relationship. In 1951, Iran had just held its first-ever election for president. The people elected Mohammad Mosaddegh. He nationalized oil in his people's interest.
That brought a 1953 CIA-backed coup that deposed him and installed Shah Palavi. The unelected Shah reinstated Big Oil ownership and ruled as a dictator until his regime was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Because the Shah, who was sick and dying, was in the US for medical treatment, Iranian revolutionary students took over the US embassy and held its staff hostage in an effort to force the Shah's extradition.
The ensuing crisis probably cost Jimmy Carter the election, and Ronald Reagan was elected after secretly working with Iran to keep American hostages prisoner until he took office.
Fast forward to late in the Obama presidency, when a multinational treaty caused Iran to surrender its nuclear materials and end its nuclear weapons program. Only to have the Trump administration unilaterally break the deal, whereupon Iranian nuclear bomb-grade uranium enrichment has resumed.
And you can trace it all back to Iran's newly-elected president nationalizing his nation's oil, on this day in 1951.
Gun control...
One year ago today in New Zealand, the Christchurch mosque mass shooting claimed 51 lives and mobilized the entire nation to change its laws and adopt strict gun control.
First Presidential election...
Today in 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first President of the Soviet Union, a nation-empire then in the midst of economic collapse and chaotic power-struggle flux.
Women's History Month...
The first Women's Boat Race happened today in 1927, between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, on The Isis in Oxford. (Neat irony, since Isis was the chief female goddess of ancient Egypt, and origin of the divine feminine and symbol of female strength.)
Greta Thunberg, Swedish teenager, gains global recognition on this day in 2019 (see next item).
School Strike for Climate...
Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest lack of action on climate change by the world's politicians, industrialists, financiers, and governments, one year ago today, in 2019, led by the example of Greta Thunberg.
Tech...
Today in 1985, the first Internet domain name was registered by Symbolics.com. Through the end of that first year, only six companies obtained dot-com domains. By 1992, there were fewer than 15,000. In 2010, there were 84 million separate domains, and in late 2019 there were 144 million registered “.com” domains. And that doesn't even count all those that are ".org" or dot-something-else.
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Happy Birthday today to...
Mike Love, American singer-songwriter and musician, co-founder of The Beach Boys
Ry Cooder, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Sly Stone, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
Dee Snider, American singer-songwriter and actor
Bret Michaels, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Charles Lloyd, American saxophonist and flute player
Mark McGrath, American singer-songwriter and television host
Phil Lesh, American bassist
Terence Trent D'Arby, American singer-songwriter
Rockwell, American singer-songwriter and musician
Terry Cummings, American basketball player and singer
Mark Hoppus, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
Siobhan Magnus, American singer-songwriter
Isobel Buchanan, Scottish soprano and actress
Howard Devoto, English singer-songwriter
Christine Anu, Australian singer
Jørgen Olsen, Danish singer-songwriter
Veronica Maggio, Swedish singer-songwriter
Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
Alia Bhatt, Actress and singer of Indian origin and British citizenship
Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian music producer
Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
___
Today in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sends 4,800 US troops over the U.S.– Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa. Villa had raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, because the US was supporting his rival, Carranza, in a Mexican civil war. General John. J. Pershing would become famous, even though he never caught Villa. He gained his nickname "Blackjack Pershing" because he made use of his black "Buffalo Soldier" cavalry regiments.
Iranian / US bad blood / first cut is the deepest...
Iran nationalized its oil industry today in 1951. That angered the hell out of US based Big Oil, which had invested to develop the fields and refineries as key sources of Allied oil during WW II.
Thus, it became the first domino in a long, sad, still dangerous relationship. In 1951, Iran had just held its first-ever election for president. The people elected Mohammad Mosaddegh. He nationalized oil in his people's interest.
That brought a 1953 CIA-backed coup that deposed him and installed Shah Palavi. The unelected Shah reinstated Big Oil ownership and ruled as a dictator until his regime was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Because the Shah, who was sick and dying, was in the US for medical treatment, Iranian revolutionary students took over the US embassy and held its staff hostage in an effort to force the Shah's extradition.
The ensuing crisis probably cost Jimmy Carter the election, and Ronald Reagan was elected after secretly working with Iran to keep American hostages prisoner until he took office.
Fast forward to late in the Obama presidency, when a multinational treaty caused Iran to surrender its nuclear materials and end its nuclear weapons program. Only to have the Trump administration unilaterally break the deal, whereupon Iranian nuclear bomb-grade uranium enrichment has resumed.
And you can trace it all back to Iran's newly-elected president nationalizing his nation's oil, on this day in 1951.
Gun control...
One year ago today in New Zealand, the Christchurch mosque mass shooting claimed 51 lives and mobilized the entire nation to change its laws and adopt strict gun control.
First Presidential election...
Today in 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first President of the Soviet Union, a nation-empire then in the midst of economic collapse and chaotic power-struggle flux.
Women's History Month...
The first Women's Boat Race happened today in 1927, between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, on The Isis in Oxford. (Neat irony, since Isis was the chief female goddess of ancient Egypt, and origin of the divine feminine and symbol of female strength.)
Greta Thunberg, Swedish teenager, gains global recognition on this day in 2019 (see next item).
School Strike for Climate...
Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest lack of action on climate change by the world's politicians, industrialists, financiers, and governments, one year ago today, in 2019, led by the example of Greta Thunberg.
Tech...
Today in 1985, the first Internet domain name was registered by Symbolics.com. Through the end of that first year, only six companies obtained dot-com domains. By 1992, there were fewer than 15,000. In 2010, there were 84 million separate domains, and in late 2019 there were 144 million registered “.com” domains. And that doesn't even count all those that are ".org" or dot-something-else.
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Happy Birthday today to...
Mike Love, American singer-songwriter and musician, co-founder of The Beach Boys
Ry Cooder, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Sly Stone, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
Dee Snider, American singer-songwriter and actor
Bret Michaels, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Charles Lloyd, American saxophonist and flute player
Mark McGrath, American singer-songwriter and television host
Phil Lesh, American bassist
Terence Trent D'Arby, American singer-songwriter
Rockwell, American singer-songwriter and musician
Terry Cummings, American basketball player and singer
Mark Hoppus, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
Siobhan Magnus, American singer-songwriter
Isobel Buchanan, Scottish soprano and actress
Howard Devoto, English singer-songwriter
Christine Anu, Australian singer
Jørgen Olsen, Danish singer-songwriter
Veronica Maggio, Swedish singer-songwriter
Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
Alia Bhatt, Actress and singer of Indian origin and British citizenship
Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian music producer
Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
___
In memorium to musicians and influencers born on this date...
Lightnin' Hopkins (1912-1982), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and blues legend. He wrote, sang and recorded a monumental catalog of blues songs that he performed everywhere from street corners to small clubs to Carnegie Hall.
Ben Johnston, American composer and academic (1926-2019)
Bob Wilber, American clarinetist and saxophonist (1928-2019)
Alan Bean, American captain, pilot, astronaut who walked on the Moon, and foremost of all space artist-painters (1932-2018)
Carl Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1927-2010)
Arif Mardin, Turkish-American record producer (1932-2006)
Richard Ellmann (1918-1987), American literary critic and biographer. His bio "Oscar Wilde" (1989) won the Pulitzer Prize, and "James Joyce" (1959) was called “the greatest literary biography of the century.”
Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (1936-1986)
Harry James, American trumpet player, a foremost Big Band era bandleader, and actor (1916-1983)
Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (1907-1981)
Eddie Calvert, English trumpeter (1922-1978)
Marjorie Merriweather Post, American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded General Foods (1887-1973)
Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor (Oslo Philharmonic) (1864-1935)
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852-1932), Irish playwright and folklorist and instrumental figure in the Irish Literary Revival. Her estate, via Sir Wm. Henry Gregory, became a haven for Irish writers W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Sean O’Casey.
Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer and conductor (1835-1916)
Karl Davydov, Russian cellist, composer, and conductor (1838-1889)
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), American general, judge, and politician, 7th US President and first populist president. He brilliantly won the Battle of New Orleans against a British invasion force in 1814, but his legacy is forever stained by his shameful acts to forcibly remove peaceful Native Americans to wilderness regions West of current white settlements. The "Trail of Tears" was a forced march in which many elderly and very young Cherokee died.
___
Lightnin' Hopkins (1912-1982), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and blues legend. He wrote, sang and recorded a monumental catalog of blues songs that he performed everywhere from street corners to small clubs to Carnegie Hall.
Ben Johnston, American composer and academic (1926-2019)
Bob Wilber, American clarinetist and saxophonist (1928-2019)
Alan Bean, American captain, pilot, astronaut who walked on the Moon, and foremost of all space artist-painters (1932-2018)
Carl Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1927-2010)
Arif Mardin, Turkish-American record producer (1932-2006)
Richard Ellmann (1918-1987), American literary critic and biographer. His bio "Oscar Wilde" (1989) won the Pulitzer Prize, and "James Joyce" (1959) was called “the greatest literary biography of the century.”
Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (1936-1986)
Harry James, American trumpet player, a foremost Big Band era bandleader, and actor (1916-1983)
Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (1907-1981)
Eddie Calvert, English trumpeter (1922-1978)
Marjorie Merriweather Post, American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded General Foods (1887-1973)
Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer, and conductor (Oslo Philharmonic) (1864-1935)
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852-1932), Irish playwright and folklorist and instrumental figure in the Irish Literary Revival. Her estate, via Sir Wm. Henry Gregory, became a haven for Irish writers W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Sean O’Casey.
Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer and conductor (1835-1916)
Karl Davydov, Russian cellist, composer, and conductor (1838-1889)
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), American general, judge, and politician, 7th US President and first populist president. He brilliantly won the Battle of New Orleans against a British invasion force in 1814, but his legacy is forever stained by his shameful acts to forcibly remove peaceful Native Americans to wilderness regions West of current white settlements. The "Trail of Tears" was a forced march in which many elderly and very young Cherokee died.
___
Here are today's events...
___
Sun, Mar 15, on tv:
ON DEMAND at www.cbssundaymorning.com
Broadcast 6 am-7:30 am - "CBS SUNDAY MORNING" re-airs its 40th anniversary show from a year ago, revisiting the late Charles Kuralt's vision to bring viewers "A show about music, arts, and nsture, the gentler subjects that tv news doesn't have time for."
* It's charming and will make you cry for happy -- and because you can't find that kind of tv the rest of the time.
___
Sun, Mar 15, on tv:
Sun, Mar 15, on tv:
7-8 am &
10-11 am (Pacific) - "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" on CNN cable, satellite, web.
* If you watch only one of the public-affairs-political "Sunday shows" today, we recommend you choose this one. In addition to medical / epidemiological expert guests, here's a sample from the opening segment:
* Fareed gives his take on how the US has botched its reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. While the experiences of other countries offer a clear lesson — that reacting early and intelligently can slow the virus down — “that does not describe the response of the United States government,” Fareed says.
* To support his thesis, he brings facts. America’s per-capita testing lags woefully behind rates in other advanced countries, and the Trump administration squandered the time it enjoyed to prepare. "The virus," Fareed says, "seems designed to bring out the worst in President Trump."
* He continues: “The president doesn’t like or trust experts, often explaining that he knows more than they do. He has bluffed and fibbed his way through much of his life and thinks nothing of doing so again, except this time we are not charmed or amused by the bluster, but rather frightened,” Fareed says. “In most global crises, the United States takes the lead and provides comfort an assurances to the world. In this one, Trump has been mostly AWOL.”
* A rather concise indictment, wouldn't you say?
___
Sun, Mar 15; LIVE ONLINE CONCERT:
12:30 pm (Pacific; 7:30 pm GMT) - MARINA V brings her splendid vocal prowess, keyboards and guitars to her ongoing online concert series.
* Marina tells us, "...never thought I'd see product shortages like we see now. Growing up during the demise of the Soviet Union with empty shelves and long lines was my reality then. But experiencing some if it now brings back a lot of long-forgotten feelings for sure. Meanwhile, I'm grateful we have the tech to stay connected with you all. I love our online concerts!"
* Streaming concerts live all this month, every Tues at 7 pm & Sundays at 12:30 pm.
* WATCH at: www.twitch.tv/MarinaVmusic
___
Sun, Mar 15; LIVE ONLINE CONCERT:
12:30 pm (Pacific; 7:30 pm GMT) - MARINA V brings her splendid vocal prowess, keyboards and guitars to her ongoing online concert series.
* Marina tells us, "...never thought I'd see product shortages like we see now. Growing up during the demise of the Soviet Union with empty shelves and long lines was my reality then. But experiencing some if it now brings back a lot of long-forgotten feelings for sure. Meanwhile, I'm grateful we have the tech to stay connected with you all. I love our online concerts!"
* Streaming concerts live all this month, every Tues at 7 pm & Sundays at 12:30 pm.
* WATCH at: www.twitch.tv/MarinaVmusic
___
 |
| Click image to enlarge to read |
Sun, Mar 15; FREE EVENT:
2 pm-4 pm - "RAGTIME, JAZZ, & SWING: EARLY 20th CENTURY DANCE & SOCIETY" at the Homestead Museum, 15415 E Don Julian Rd, City of Industry CA 91745
* In the first half of the 20th century, dancing was central to almost any occasion when men and women came together. Restaurants and night clubs featured dance floors and live bands.
* Big cities like Los Angeles were home to multiple mega-ballrooms with rooms for thousands; and in taxi dance halls, lonely men paid women for anonymous foxtrots.
* Join Walter Nelson as he describes this era and its popular dances using contemporary writings, images, and film clips.
* The presentation is followed by an optional 45-minute Jazz age foxtrot introductory class.
* Free, free parking; reservations are recommended:
___
Sun, Mar 15:
2:30 pm - LAURENCE JUBER plays the second of two shows for the Lord Of The Strings Concert Series, this one at the Sherman Library & Gardens, 2647 E Coast Highway, Corona Del Mar CA 92625
___
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
Sun, Mar 15:
3 pm - EILEEN IVERS & UNIVERSAL ROOTS play the "CaltechLive!" Concert series in Beckman Auditorium, on the Caltech campus at 332 South Michigan Av, Pasadena CA 91106; 626-395-4652
___
Sun, Mar 15, on tv:
5 pm-7 pm (Pacific) - "DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES DEBATE: ONE-ON-ONE, SANDERS VS. BIDEN" on CNN and some radio outlets.
* In what may be the FINAL debate of candidates for the Democratic nomination, Sen. BERNIE SANDERS and former Vice Pres. JOE BIDEN go at it one-on-one. It's VERY worth paying close attention, because this isn't just two old white guys who both want to be president. This is the ultimate duel between two opposing visions of the future. Will we be able, in November, to finally pick-up where FDR's New Deal left off, or will we be limited to returning to "business as usual" as it was before Trump took over? Mighty big difference. Mighty different futures.
___
Sun, Mar 15:
5:30 pm-9:30 pm - "SPECIAL PADDY'S PIG ST. PAT'S CELEBRATION EVENT" at Bexx Secret Garden, N. Hollywood
* Paid Reservations Required!
* Enjoy traditional Irish Dishes as well as some Irish-inspired and plant-based cuisine. All handcrafted by Bexx & her talented team. An assortment of beers, wines and specialty cocktails available for a small donation.
* Reservation includes entertainment, food, 1 alcoholic beverage, music by PADDY'S PIG and "fun, fun, fun!"
* PADDY'S PIG is an energetic trad Irish-Celtic band. The St. Pat's weekend fest in Laughlin is on hiatus for the first time in several years. That freed-up the band to do this and several more Southern Cal gigs.
* TIX, $42, at: https://checkout.square.site/buy/EAILKWCPR6VOUSWSOPPNYIQO
___
Sun, Mar 15:
7 pm - AARON NEVILLE plays the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano CA 92675; 949-496-8927
___
Sun, Mar 15:
7 pm - THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR play the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Av, Altadena CA 91001; 626-798-6236
___
Sun, Mar 15:
8 pm - KARLA BONOFF plays the Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center, 2100 Thousand Oaks Bl, Thousand Oaks CA 91362; 805-449-2787
___
Sun, Mar 15:
8 pm - THE HONEY DEWDROPS play the famous concert hall in back of McCabe's Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica CA 90405; 310-828-4497
___
___
Quotes for today from two born on this date...
"The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever — they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work."
~ Sid Fleischman, American author of Newbery Medal-winning children's books who used humour to inform the tall tales in his McBroom series and relate the escapades of his characters (born today in 1920, died in 2010).
And from another born on this day...
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?"
~ James Madison, American academic, politician, and 4th US president (born today in 1751, died 1836).
(our thanks to A.Word.A.Day for that quote)
Artists need copyrights...
Today in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter" was published. America had no copyright laws in those days, so editors sent books to England, where they did have laws. But the book was bootlegged both places, and despite its phenomenal success, Hawthorne made almost nothing from it.
Spaciness...
Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket today in 1926. He became interested in outer space when he read H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" in 1898 as a boy of 16 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
As a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Goddard began experimenting with a gunpowder rocket, theorizing that directional thrust would work in the vacuum of space with no air to push against, unlike an airplane propeller.
The US government ignored him, but he got a grant from the Smithsonian Institution and published a paper, speculating that a rocket could reach the Moon. It was read by Werner von Braun in Germany.
But the "New York Times" heard about his paper and ridiculed him. Here, let's pick up Garrison Keillor's account: "[Goddard] went from being a relative nobody to a laughingstock literally overnight. But he persisted, and on this date in 1926, he completed the first successful launch of his liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. Similar to a blowtorch, his rocket was equipped with two lines running from a fuel tank into a combustion chamber; in this case, the lines delivered gasoline and liquid oxygen. The rocket achieved a height of 41 feet and an average speed of 60 miles per hour. Unfortunately, his wife Esther's movie camera ran out of film, so there's no record of this first foray into space exploration."
Another musician plane crash...
Today in 1991, the airplane carrying eight members of Reba McEntire's touring band crashed on the side of Otay Mountain.
Indian affairs, en-route to Turkey Day...
Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony today in 1621, the year after its founding, and greeted them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset." That began the process of Native American Indians saving the colony's inhabitants in return for their alliance against a warring tribe. As for how Samoset knew English? He had voyaged with traders to England, before invading religious nut settlers were deliberately lost by fearful English interests, by being landed way far north of the Virginia colony.
Spain in the American Revolution...
Today in 1782, Spanish troops captured the British-held island of Roatán. It wasn't just the French who aided the rebellious colonists.
Better late than never...
Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment today in 1995, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified by all the other states in 1865. That's 130 years earlier.
Poison gas warfare...
On this day in 1988, the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents by order of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people. It would be cited by Bush the elder as a reason for the Gulf War, though Saddam was left in power when that war was stopped. It would be cited again by Bush the Shrub as a reason for his conquering Iraq. But concern for the Kurds would be abruptly abandoned when the Donald ended the US military alliance with them and abandoned them to invading Turkish artillery barrages.
The real reason St. Patrick's Day is a big deal...
In America, it's more about green beer than anything. Not so in Northern Ireland, where they have reason to celebrate peace. On this day in 1988, in yet another manifestation of "The Troubles," Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacked a Provisional IRA (PIRA) funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. A PIRA volunteer and two civilians were killed, and more than 60 others were wounded. The Troubles finally ended when mothers of those killed on both sides got together to put a stop to all of it.
Trying to save others...
Today in 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home. She was run-over by a bulldozer.
Cars/oil milestones...
On this day in 1968, General Motors produced its 100 millionth automobile, an Oldsmobile Toronado.
A decade later, today in 1978, the supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history to that time.
Vietnam...
Also on this day in 1968, the My Lai Massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
Infamous kidnappings...
Today in 1978, former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped. (He is later murdered by his captors.)
Today in 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. (He later dies in captivity.)
Today in 1985, Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
Russian invasion, or?...
Crimea voted today in 2014 in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The West calls it a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation. It's complicated. Many Russian sailors, over many decades, had moved to Crimea with their families, and it became a mecca for retired sailors. So a vote likely did cause Crimea to secede.
___
Happy Birthday today to...
Jerry Jeff Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Nancy Wilson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress, half of platinum-selling sister duo Heart
Tim O'Brien, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, leader of several acoustic roots collaboratives including Tim O'Brien and the O'Boys
Ray Benson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, bandleader of Asleep at the Wheel
Patty Griffin, American singer-songwriter
Ronnie McCoury, American bluegrass mandolin player, singer and songwriter
Tracy Bonham, American singer and violinist
Wolfgang Van Halen, American bassist
Michael Owen Bruce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Betty Johnson, American singer
Walter Cunningham, American colonel, pilot, and an original Mercury 7 US astronaut
Sebastian Currier, American composer and educator
Steve Marker, American musician
John Darnielle, American musician and novelist
Blu Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and producer
Raymond Vahan Damadian, Armenian-American inventor, invented the MRI
Elliott Murphy, American-French singer-songwriter and journalist
Richard Desjardins, Canadian singer-songwriter and director
Victor Garber, Canadian actor and singer
Keith Rowe, English guitarist
Roger Norrington, English violinist and conductor
Jimmy Nail, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Jerome Flynn, English actor and singer
Phillip Wilcher, Australian pianist and composer
Guesch Patti, French singer
Linda Lepomme, Belgian actress and singer
Christa Ludwig, German soprano and actress
Claus Peter Flor, German conductor
Annett Renneberg, German actress and singer
Sigmund Groven, Norwegian harmonica player and composer
Joakim Berg, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
Leena Peisa, Finnish keyboard player and songwriter
Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano and actress
Eddy Lover, Panamanian singer-songwriter
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director and screenwriter (1940-2018)
Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (1926-2017)
Mary Hinkson, American dancer and choreographer (1925-2014)
Alan Heyman, American-South Korean musicologist and composer (1931-2014)
Cornell Borchers, Lithuanian-German actress and singer (1925-2014)
Minoru Miki, Japanese composer (1930-2011)
Heinz Wallberg, German conductor (1923-2004)
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American sociologist and politician, US Senator, 12th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1927-2003)
Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor and singer (1963-2002)
Mike Mansfield, American politician and diplomat, US Senator, 22nd United States Ambassador to Japan (1903-2001)
Fred Neil, American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist (1936-2001)
Tommy Flanagan, American pianist and composer (1930-2001)
Henny Youngman, English-American violinist and comedian (1906-1998)
John Addison, English-American soldier and composer (1920-1998)
Vagif Mustafazadeh, Azerbaijani pianist and composer (1940-1979)
Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (1881-1947)
Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer and musicologist (1885-1943)
Willy Burmester, German violinist (1869-1933)
John Butler Yeats, Irish painter (1839-1922)
William Henry Monk, English organist and composer (1823-1889)
Enrico Tamberlik, Italian tenor (1820-1889)
James Madison, American academic, politician, 4th US president, and source of today's quote (1751-1836)
Georg Neumark, German poet and composer (1621-1681)
Michael Franck, German baker, teacher, poet, and composer (1609-1667)
___
See it now; ART EXHIBITION, unknown duration:
* Sarah Ruhl’s play, "mysterious and mesmerizing, explores the need for real life connection in a technologically obsessed world." -- Easy Reader News.
* Runs: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sun Mar 8 at 2 pm (includes Q&A with crew and cast), Sun Mar 22 at 2 pm. Closes March 22.
* The Guide just attended a production here on Valentine's Day. Nice little venue with comfortable seats.
* TIX, $24 opening night; thereafter $28 regular, $26 seniors, and $15 for those age 25-and-under who can remember to say the word “Hipster.” All tix at 310-512-6030 or www.littlefishtheatre.org
___
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
Sun, Mar 15:
2:30 pm - LAURENCE JUBER plays the second of two shows for the Lord Of The Strings Concert Series, this one at the Sherman Library & Gardens, 2647 E Coast Highway, Corona Del Mar CA 92625
___
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
Sun, Mar 15:
3 pm - EILEEN IVERS & UNIVERSAL ROOTS play the "CaltechLive!" Concert series in Beckman Auditorium, on the Caltech campus at 332 South Michigan Av, Pasadena CA 91106; 626-395-4652
___
Sun, Mar 15, on tv:
5 pm-7 pm (Pacific) - "DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES DEBATE: ONE-ON-ONE, SANDERS VS. BIDEN" on CNN and some radio outlets.
* In what may be the FINAL debate of candidates for the Democratic nomination, Sen. BERNIE SANDERS and former Vice Pres. JOE BIDEN go at it one-on-one. It's VERY worth paying close attention, because this isn't just two old white guys who both want to be president. This is the ultimate duel between two opposing visions of the future. Will we be able, in November, to finally pick-up where FDR's New Deal left off, or will we be limited to returning to "business as usual" as it was before Trump took over? Mighty big difference. Mighty different futures.
___
Sun, Mar 15:
5:30 pm-9:30 pm - "SPECIAL PADDY'S PIG ST. PAT'S CELEBRATION EVENT" at Bexx Secret Garden, N. Hollywood
* Paid Reservations Required!
* Enjoy traditional Irish Dishes as well as some Irish-inspired and plant-based cuisine. All handcrafted by Bexx & her talented team. An assortment of beers, wines and specialty cocktails available for a small donation.
* Reservation includes entertainment, food, 1 alcoholic beverage, music by PADDY'S PIG and "fun, fun, fun!"
* PADDY'S PIG is an energetic trad Irish-Celtic band. The St. Pat's weekend fest in Laughlin is on hiatus for the first time in several years. That freed-up the band to do this and several more Southern Cal gigs.
* TIX, $42, at: https://checkout.square.site/buy/EAILKWCPR6VOUSWSOPPNYIQO
___
Sun, Mar 15:
7 pm - AARON NEVILLE plays the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano CA 92675; 949-496-8927
___
Sun, Mar 15:
7 pm - THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR play the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Av, Altadena CA 91001; 626-798-6236
___
Sun, Mar 15:
8 pm - KARLA BONOFF plays the Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center, 2100 Thousand Oaks Bl, Thousand Oaks CA 91362; 805-449-2787
___
Sun, Mar 15:
8 pm - THE HONEY DEWDROPS play the famous concert hall in back of McCabe's Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Bl, Santa Monica CA 90405; 310-828-4497
___
___________________
Monday
___________________
Monday
___________________
Today is Monday, March 16, 2020.
Quotes for today from two born on this date...
"The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever — they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work."
~ Sid Fleischman, American author of Newbery Medal-winning children's books who used humour to inform the tall tales in his McBroom series and relate the escapades of his characters (born today in 1920, died in 2010).
And from another born on this day...
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?"
~ James Madison, American academic, politician, and 4th US president (born today in 1751, died 1836).
(our thanks to A.Word.A.Day for that quote)
___
Today in 2020...
About the runs on toilet paper...
Dr. Jerome Adams, US Surgeon General: "People need to understand, you can't build a toilet paper fortress that keeps the Coronavirus out."
So good to hear something sensible come out of D.C.
___
Today in 2020...
About the runs on toilet paper...
Dr. Jerome Adams, US Surgeon General: "People need to understand, you can't build a toilet paper fortress that keeps the Coronavirus out."
So good to hear something sensible come out of D.C.
___
On this day...
Artists need copyrights...
Today in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter" was published. America had no copyright laws in those days, so editors sent books to England, where they did have laws. But the book was bootlegged both places, and despite its phenomenal success, Hawthorne made almost nothing from it.
Spaciness...
Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket today in 1926. He became interested in outer space when he read H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" in 1898 as a boy of 16 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
As a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Goddard began experimenting with a gunpowder rocket, theorizing that directional thrust would work in the vacuum of space with no air to push against, unlike an airplane propeller.
The US government ignored him, but he got a grant from the Smithsonian Institution and published a paper, speculating that a rocket could reach the Moon. It was read by Werner von Braun in Germany.
But the "New York Times" heard about his paper and ridiculed him. Here, let's pick up Garrison Keillor's account: "[Goddard] went from being a relative nobody to a laughingstock literally overnight. But he persisted, and on this date in 1926, he completed the first successful launch of his liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. Similar to a blowtorch, his rocket was equipped with two lines running from a fuel tank into a combustion chamber; in this case, the lines delivered gasoline and liquid oxygen. The rocket achieved a height of 41 feet and an average speed of 60 miles per hour. Unfortunately, his wife Esther's movie camera ran out of film, so there's no record of this first foray into space exploration."
Another musician plane crash...
Today in 1991, the airplane carrying eight members of Reba McEntire's touring band crashed on the side of Otay Mountain.
Indian affairs, en-route to Turkey Day...
Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony today in 1621, the year after its founding, and greeted them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset." That began the process of Native American Indians saving the colony's inhabitants in return for their alliance against a warring tribe. As for how Samoset knew English? He had voyaged with traders to England, before invading religious nut settlers were deliberately lost by fearful English interests, by being landed way far north of the Virginia colony.
Spain in the American Revolution...
Today in 1782, Spanish troops captured the British-held island of Roatán. It wasn't just the French who aided the rebellious colonists.
Better late than never...
Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment today in 1995, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified by all the other states in 1865. That's 130 years earlier.
Poison gas warfare...
On this day in 1988, the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents by order of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people. It would be cited by Bush the elder as a reason for the Gulf War, though Saddam was left in power when that war was stopped. It would be cited again by Bush the Shrub as a reason for his conquering Iraq. But concern for the Kurds would be abruptly abandoned when the Donald ended the US military alliance with them and abandoned them to invading Turkish artillery barrages.
The real reason St. Patrick's Day is a big deal...
In America, it's more about green beer than anything. Not so in Northern Ireland, where they have reason to celebrate peace. On this day in 1988, in yet another manifestation of "The Troubles," Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacked a Provisional IRA (PIRA) funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. A PIRA volunteer and two civilians were killed, and more than 60 others were wounded. The Troubles finally ended when mothers of those killed on both sides got together to put a stop to all of it.
Trying to save others...
Today in 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home. She was run-over by a bulldozer.
Cars/oil milestones...
On this day in 1968, General Motors produced its 100 millionth automobile, an Oldsmobile Toronado.
A decade later, today in 1978, the supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history to that time.
Vietnam...
Also on this day in 1968, the My Lai Massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
Infamous kidnappings...
Today in 1978, former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped. (He is later murdered by his captors.)
Today in 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists. (He later dies in captivity.)
Today in 1985, Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
Russian invasion, or?...
Crimea voted today in 2014 in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The West calls it a Russian invasion of a sovereign nation. It's complicated. Many Russian sailors, over many decades, had moved to Crimea with their families, and it became a mecca for retired sailors. So a vote likely did cause Crimea to secede.
___
Happy Birthday today to...
Jerry Jeff Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Nancy Wilson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress, half of platinum-selling sister duo Heart
Tim O'Brien, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, leader of several acoustic roots collaboratives including Tim O'Brien and the O'Boys
Ray Benson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, bandleader of Asleep at the Wheel
Patty Griffin, American singer-songwriter
Ronnie McCoury, American bluegrass mandolin player, singer and songwriter
Tracy Bonham, American singer and violinist
Wolfgang Van Halen, American bassist
Michael Owen Bruce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Betty Johnson, American singer
Walter Cunningham, American colonel, pilot, and an original Mercury 7 US astronaut
Sebastian Currier, American composer and educator
Steve Marker, American musician
John Darnielle, American musician and novelist
Blu Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and producer
Raymond Vahan Damadian, Armenian-American inventor, invented the MRI
Elliott Murphy, American-French singer-songwriter and journalist
Richard Desjardins, Canadian singer-songwriter and director
Victor Garber, Canadian actor and singer
Keith Rowe, English guitarist
Roger Norrington, English violinist and conductor
Jimmy Nail, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Jerome Flynn, English actor and singer
Phillip Wilcher, Australian pianist and composer
Guesch Patti, French singer
Linda Lepomme, Belgian actress and singer
Christa Ludwig, German soprano and actress
Claus Peter Flor, German conductor
Annett Renneberg, German actress and singer
Sigmund Groven, Norwegian harmonica player and composer
Joakim Berg, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
Leena Peisa, Finnish keyboard player and songwriter
Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano and actress
Eddy Lover, Panamanian singer-songwriter
___
In memorium to musicians and influencers born on this date...
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director and screenwriter (1940-2018)
Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (1926-2017)
Mary Hinkson, American dancer and choreographer (1925-2014)
Alan Heyman, American-South Korean musicologist and composer (1931-2014)
Cornell Borchers, Lithuanian-German actress and singer (1925-2014)
Minoru Miki, Japanese composer (1930-2011)
Heinz Wallberg, German conductor (1923-2004)
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American sociologist and politician, US Senator, 12th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1927-2003)
Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor and singer (1963-2002)
Mike Mansfield, American politician and diplomat, US Senator, 22nd United States Ambassador to Japan (1903-2001)
Fred Neil, American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist (1936-2001)
Tommy Flanagan, American pianist and composer (1930-2001)
Henny Youngman, English-American violinist and comedian (1906-1998)
John Addison, English-American soldier and composer (1920-1998)
Vagif Mustafazadeh, Azerbaijani pianist and composer (1940-1979)
Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (1881-1947)
Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer and musicologist (1885-1943)
Willy Burmester, German violinist (1869-1933)
John Butler Yeats, Irish painter (1839-1922)
William Henry Monk, English organist and composer (1823-1889)
Enrico Tamberlik, Italian tenor (1820-1889)
James Madison, American academic, politician, 4th US president, and source of today's quote (1751-1836)
Georg Neumark, German poet and composer (1621-1681)
Michael Franck, German baker, teacher, poet, and composer (1609-1667)
___
Today's events? Seemingly all were cancelled.
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Continuing Events
(UPDATES ADDED, as needed)
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(UPDATES ADDED, as needed)
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See it now; ART EXHIBITION, unknown duration:
"UNTITLED (QUESTIONS)," by artist BARBARA KRUGER at Los Angeles Union Station, Alameda Av, downtown Los Angeles CA
* This exhibition, part of "FRIEZE WEEK 2020," is still up. Everything else from the big frieze officially ended after the advertised Feb 10-16 run.
 |
| Barbara Kruger, ’WHO BUYS THE CON’ mural, on the façade of NeueHouse Hollywood. Photo, Fredrik Nilsen |
* "Untitled (Questions)" features large-scale queries, alternating between English and Spanish, created by the artist.
* This project brings Kruger’s provocations/interrogations, which "are indeterminate and open to subjective interpretation," into physical proximity with the public. It's part of "Frieze Week Los Angeles," presented at sites throughout the greater L.A. area.
* "Wallpaper" says, "Graphically bold and politically audacious, Barbara Kruger is known for plastering her unmissable slogans all over the place – an assimilation of mass media imagery and words reassembled and thrown back in the face of passive spectatorship. Sex, society and politics are Kruger’s primary materials – three topics that are as hot in the US today as they were when she started making work in the 1980s."
* "Untitled (Questions)" debuted in its original form, 1990-2018 at MOCA. At Union Station, it's co-presented by "Metro Art" and "Frieze Los Angeles."
* Beyond the iconic train station, a series of 20 questions composed by Kruger such as ‘IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT PAIN?‘ or ‘WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?‘ will be installed outside a number of prominent art spaces, civic landmarks and public centers across the city, on digital billboards, light pole banners, murals, print and digital media.
* Frieze partnered with multiple venues, including Metro (at Union Station), the West Hollywood Design District, L.A. Tourism & Convention Bureau, NeueHouse, The Forum, The Standard, and Banc of California Stadium.
* Tip: avoid traffic and expensive parking by taking Metro to downtown events, aboard the Red / Purple Subway, Gold Line light rail, or Silver Line express bus, all direct to Union Station. The Orange Line from Chatsworth / West SFV connects at NoHo; Blue and Expo light rail connects at Metro Center, 7th and Figueroa, DTLA. Plus, Foothill Transit's Silver Streak from points east gets you there.
* Riding a bus or train, getting out of the individual encapsulation of your car, helps you "get" the point of this exhibition. Transcendent point -- Transit: try it, you'll liiiike it.
___
ONGOING, multiple dates:
1 pm-6 pm - "CALLE CARONA FARMS AND VINES MUSIC JAM" at the farm, 39813 Calle Carona, Green Valley CA 91390
* For people interested in sustainable organic farming in a beautiful country setting, to the accompaniment of music.
* Bring your instruments to play, and seeds to plant, grow, sing and enjoy the harvest.
* Dates: Sat, Mar 14; Sat, Jun 13; more.
___
ONGOING, multiple dates:
1 pm-6 pm - "CALLE CARONA FARMS AND VINES MUSIC JAM" at the farm, 39813 Calle Carona, Green Valley CA 91390
* For people interested in sustainable organic farming in a beautiful country setting, to the accompaniment of music.
* Bring your instruments to play, and seeds to plant, grow, sing and enjoy the harvest.
* Dates: Sat, Mar 14; Sat, Jun 13; more.
___
ONGOING, Feb 14-Mar 15; MUSICAL:
"LAW AND ORDER: THE MUSICAL!" in its world premiere at Broadwater Second Stage, 6320 Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood CA 90038.
* A parody in accordance with fair use law.
* This musical by Ilyse Mimoun and Jeremy Adelman spoofs the popular TV series.
* Runs Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 7 pm. Ends March 15.
___
ONGOING, Feb 19-Mar 29; MUSICAL:
8 pm - “THE BOOK OF MORMON,” the big musical comedy, returns, opening Feb 19 in the Ahmanson Theatre at the L.A. Music Center, 135 N Grand Av, downtown Los Angeles CA
* TIX start at $45, at 213-972-4400 or www.CenterTheatreGroup.org
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ONGOING, Thu, Mar 12-Sat, Mar 21; MUSICAL:
"HAMILTON" touring cast plays the Hollywood Pantages theatre, Hollywood CA
* TIX, $253-$1,250 each (gasp), at ticketmaster.
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ONGOING, Feb 27-Mar 22; stage play:
8 pm - “DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE” opens at the Little Fish Theatre, 777 S Centre St, San Pedro CA* Sarah Ruhl’s play, "mysterious and mesmerizing, explores the need for real life connection in a technologically obsessed world." -- Easy Reader News.
* Runs: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sun Mar 8 at 2 pm (includes Q&A with crew and cast), Sun Mar 22 at 2 pm. Closes March 22.
* The Guide just attended a production here on Valentine's Day. Nice little venue with comfortable seats.
* TIX, $24 opening night; thereafter $28 regular, $26 seniors, and $15 for those age 25-and-under who can remember to say the word “Hipster.” All tix at 310-512-6030 or www.littlefishtheatre.org
___
ONGOING, through Jun 13:
1 pm-5 pm - "WATER CHANGES EVERYTHING" exhibit presented by the Historical Society of Long Beach at 4260 Atlantic Av, Long Beach CA
* Runs Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 1 pm-5 pm; Thursdays 1-7 pm; and Saturdays, 11 am-5 pm.
* Free.
* Info: 562-424-2220.
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CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
ONGOING, ART EXHIBITION, indefinite:
Annual "MASTERS ART EXHIBITION AND SALE" opens Feb 8 at the Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park / Los Angeles CA 90027
* Paintings and sculptures by 64 premier Western artists ate in the exhibition, to see and purchase.
* "Masters" opens with an artists' dinner on Friday evening, and then a full day of festivities on Saturday — including artist talks, an awards presentation, and an evening cocktail reception, where approximately 250 fixed-price works are sold through a drawing.
* Note: All-weekend VIP tickets are SOLD OUT, but Saturday-only tickets are available at the door.
* Proceeds from "Masters" support the "Campaign for the Autry," which helps provide essential support for the Autry’s educational programs, innovative exhibitions, and over 100 public events annually.
* Special events with "Masters" include:
• "TRUNK SHOW AT THE AUTRY STORE" Sat, Feb 8, 10 am-4 pm.
• "GALLERY NIGHT WITH DUBLAB" on Thu, Feb 20, 6:30-9 pm.
* Note that Feb 8 the museum and store both close at 4 pm.
* Opening weekend schedule of all related events: https://theautry.org/exhibitions/masters-art-exhibition-and-sale/masters-opening-weekend-schedule
* PHOTO GALLERY of artists and artwork:
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ONGOING, gallery show, through Apr 3:
"ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY OVER 50 LOCAL ARTISTS" get lots of space for lots of pictures, on view at Parkhurst Galleries, 439 W Sixth St, San Pedro CA
* OPENING RECEPTION Fri, Feb 28, 5-8 pm.
* Info, 310-547-3158 or www.parkhurstgalleries.com
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* OPENING RECEPTION Fri, Feb 28, 5-8 pm.
* Info, 310-547-3158 or www.parkhurstgalleries.com
___
ONGOING, through Mar 21; KIDS MUSICAL THEATRE,
(but it's an Equity show):
"THE ADVENTURES OF PETER RABBIT" with book and lyrics by Anthony Gruppuso, who directs. Music by Matt Dahan.
* At Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Bl West, Los Angeles CA 90068
* Runs Saturdays at 1 pm.
* Ends March 21.
___
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
ONGOING, STAGE PLAY, Feb 28-Mar 15:
World Premiere of "LYING WITH BADGERS" presented by "NATIVE VOICES AT THE AUTRY" at the Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park / Los Angeles CA 90027
* This dark comedy — featuring puppets who interact with humans — tells the story of two estranged brothers of the Blackfeet Nation.
* Runs Thursdays and Fridays, 8 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays, 2 pm.
* TIX, $15 non-mbrs / $10 Students, Seniors (60+), & Military (w/ ID), at: https://theautry.org/events/performing-arts/native-voices-presents-world-premiere-lying-badgers-previews
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ONGOING, Feb 29–Mar 15; CONTEMPORARY OPERA:
"SWEET LAND" presented by The Industry at L.A. State Historic Park, at 1724 Baker St, Los Angeles CA 90012 (in the NEZ corner of the State Historic Park)
* L.A.’s contemporary opera company brings a performance that disrupts the dominant narrative of American identity.
* The Arrivals wash up on the shore. They make contact with another civilization they call “the Hosts.” And from there, the story splinters, following diverging perspectives. Starting as a procession through the L.A. State Historic Park, "Sweet Land" becomes an opera that erases itself.
* The company that created "Invisible Cities" and "Hopscotch" now brings "a grotesque historical pageant."
* It's the result of a highly collaborative and multi-perspect approach.
* Composer Du Yun is a Chinese immigrant whose recent work originates from what she states “is a lack of understanding and empathy around immigration”. Her last major opera, "Angel’s Bone," won a Pulitzer Prize for music and explores the psychology behind human trafficking.
* Composer Raven Chacon, "United States Artists" fellow and winner of the "Creative Capital Award," is a composer, performer and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation.
* Librettist Douglas Kearney is a poet whose “polyphonic diction pulls history apart, recombining it to reveal an alternative less whitewashed by enfranchised power” (BOMB Magazine).
* Librettist Aja Couchois Duncan is a mixed-race Ojibwe writer who works to advance equity and social justice.
* Cannupa Hanksa Luger is a multidisciplinary artist who interweaves performance and political action to communicate stories about 21st-century Indigeneity. He co-directs "Sweet Land."
* Yuval Sharon, co-director, is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Industry and a 2017 MacArthur Fellow.
* Info: https://theindustryla.org/projects/sweet-land/
* TIX: https://theindustryla.org/sweet-land-tickets/
___
ONGOING, Jan 29-May 27; FILM SCREENING of LIVE THEATRE:
"NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE," a series of productions filmed live on London's West End, screening at Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N Mentor Av, Pasadena CA 91106; www.bostoncourtpasadena.org
* Boston Court, itself renowned for live theatre, brings these brilliantly filmed plays from across the pond; some have two dates, and the near-term one is sold-out; get tix early:
■ "ALL ABOUT EVE," starring GIllian Anderson:
Wed, Jan 29, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "HAMLET" (encore), starring Benedict Cumberbatch:
Sun, Feb 2, 1:30 pm, get tix now.
■ "FLEABAG," written & performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge; two dates:
Thu, Jan 30 - Sold out; Wed, May 20, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "PRESENT LAUGHTER," starring Andrew Scott; two dates:
Fri, Jan 31, Sold out; Wed, May 27, 7:30 pm, get tix now.
■ "ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS" (encore), starring James Corden; two dates:
Sat, Feb 1, 1:30 pm; Sat, May 16, 7:30 pm; get tix now, either date.
■ "THE AUDIENCE" (encore), starring Helen Mirren:
Sun, May 10, 1:30 pm, get tix now.
■ "HANSARD," starring Alex Jennings and Lyndsey Duncan:
Tues, May 12, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "CYRANO DE BERGERAC" – New, starring James McAvoy; two dates:
Mon, May 18, 7:30 pm; Fri, May 22, 7:30 pm; get tix now, either date.
* TIX, $20; Box Office, 626-683-6801, 11 am - 5 pm, Tue-Fri.
___
ONGOING, PODCAST, on-demand:
"RECORDING ARTISTS: RADICAL WOMEN" is a new podcast series from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In it, art historian HELEN MOLESWORTH explores the lives and work of six artists — ALICE NEEL, LEE KRASNER, BETYE SAAR, HELEN FRANKENTHALER, YOKO ONO, and EVA HESSE.
* What was it like to be a woman making art during the feminist and civil rights movements? In this season of "Recording Artists," Molesworth delves into their lives and careers, spanning several generations. Hear them describe, in their own words, their work, relationships, and feelings about the ongoing march of feminism. Contemporary artists and art historians join the conversation, offering their own perspectives on the recordings and exploring what it meant—and still means—to be a woman and an artist. Share this with one who'll appreciate it.
* HERE'S THE LINK. The whole series is here in individial episodes so you can pace yourself or binge it. You'll hear rare audiotaped interviews and fresh perspectives on what it meant — and still means — to be a woman making art:
http://www.getty.edu/recordingartists/
___
ONGOING, through May 29:
“INCREDIBLE JOURNEY: BUGS” opened mid-Dec at the South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Bl, Palos Verdes Peninsula CA
* Gawd, we love experiential learning. Whichever journey Garden visitors decide to take, they are transformed into that bug – literally (via props).
* This program interactively educates visitors about the butterflies, spiders, ants and bees that can be found in the Garden.
* Full info, 310-544-1948 or www.southcoastbotanicgarden.org
___
CANCELLED: COVID-19 CLOSURE.
ONGOING, through April 12, daily:
10 am-5 pm - "EGYPT'S LOST CITIES" exhibition at the Reagan Library, 40 Presidential Dr, Simi Valley CA 93065
* Akin to your best fantasies of Atlantis, these are artifacts recovered from beneath the sea.
* One day as the Mediterranean sun beat down on the bay of Aboukir, two bustling cities of ancient Egypt slipped into the sea without a whisper of wind, buried for centuries.
* These cities, before they sank beneath the waves, were known throughout the world as cultural centers of power, of wealth, of trade, and novel artistry.
* Time may have eroded the memory of a civilization, but not the mystery -- or the breathtaking artifacts -- of what it was.
* This exhibition runs Oct 5, 2019–Apr 12, 2020.
* View the holiday tree exhibit (through Jan 5; see our listing) and the Air Force One Pavilion, along with this current special exhibition, all during one visit for the price of museum admission. But allow yourself PLENTY of time.
* Open seven days a week, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
* Facility features a nice cafeteria-style cafe.
* TIX include the exhibition and the 125,000 square feet of all the permanent exhibits and displays, including Air Force One; you need to allow three to four hours to enjoy all of the galleries and grounds. Gen'l adm $29.95, discounts for youth, kids, seniors; active US military get in free. Free parking. Tix available in advance or at the door. It's worth adding the $7 "audio tour." Online adv. tix:
https://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/online-ticket-sales/
"NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE," a series of productions filmed live on London's West End, screening at Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N Mentor Av, Pasadena CA 91106; www.bostoncourtpasadena.org
* Boston Court, itself renowned for live theatre, brings these brilliantly filmed plays from across the pond; some have two dates, and the near-term one is sold-out; get tix early:
■ "ALL ABOUT EVE," starring GIllian Anderson:
Wed, Jan 29, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "HAMLET" (encore), starring Benedict Cumberbatch:
Sun, Feb 2, 1:30 pm, get tix now.
Thu, Jan 30 - Sold out; Wed, May 20, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "PRESENT LAUGHTER," starring Andrew Scott; two dates:
Fri, Jan 31, Sold out; Wed, May 27, 7:30 pm, get tix now.
■ "ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS" (encore), starring James Corden; two dates:
Sat, Feb 1, 1:30 pm; Sat, May 16, 7:30 pm; get tix now, either date.
■ "THE AUDIENCE" (encore), starring Helen Mirren:
Sun, May 10, 1:30 pm, get tix now.
■ "HANSARD," starring Alex Jennings and Lyndsey Duncan:
Tues, May 12, 8 pm, get tix now.
■ "CYRANO DE BERGERAC" – New, starring James McAvoy; two dates:
Mon, May 18, 7:30 pm; Fri, May 22, 7:30 pm; get tix now, either date.
* TIX, $20; Box Office, 626-683-6801, 11 am - 5 pm, Tue-Fri.
___
ONGOING, PODCAST, on-demand:
"RECORDING ARTISTS: RADICAL WOMEN" is a new podcast series from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In it, art historian HELEN MOLESWORTH explores the lives and work of six artists — ALICE NEEL, LEE KRASNER, BETYE SAAR, HELEN FRANKENTHALER, YOKO ONO, and EVA HESSE.
* What was it like to be a woman making art during the feminist and civil rights movements? In this season of "Recording Artists," Molesworth delves into their lives and careers, spanning several generations. Hear them describe, in their own words, their work, relationships, and feelings about the ongoing march of feminism. Contemporary artists and art historians join the conversation, offering their own perspectives on the recordings and exploring what it meant—and still means—to be a woman and an artist. Share this with one who'll appreciate it.
* HERE'S THE LINK. The whole series is here in individial episodes so you can pace yourself or binge it. You'll hear rare audiotaped interviews and fresh perspectives on what it meant — and still means — to be a woman making art:
http://www.getty.edu/recordingartists/
___
ONGOING, through May 29:
“INCREDIBLE JOURNEY: BUGS” opened mid-Dec at the South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Bl, Palos Verdes Peninsula CA
* Gawd, we love experiential learning. Whichever journey Garden visitors decide to take, they are transformed into that bug – literally (via props).
* This program interactively educates visitors about the butterflies, spiders, ants and bees that can be found in the Garden.
* Full info, 310-544-1948 or www.southcoastbotanicgarden.org
___
 |
| "When the sea shall give up her dead." The many displayed artifacts recovered from the ocean floor include the Stele of Thonis-Heracleion (SCA 277), loaned by the National Museum of Alexandria – IEASM excavations. Photo by Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation |
ONGOING, through April 12, daily:
10 am-5 pm - "EGYPT'S LOST CITIES" exhibition at the Reagan Library, 40 Presidential Dr, Simi Valley CA 93065
* Akin to your best fantasies of Atlantis, these are artifacts recovered from beneath the sea.
* One day as the Mediterranean sun beat down on the bay of Aboukir, two bustling cities of ancient Egypt slipped into the sea without a whisper of wind, buried for centuries.
* These cities, before they sank beneath the waves, were known throughout the world as cultural centers of power, of wealth, of trade, and novel artistry.
* Time may have eroded the memory of a civilization, but not the mystery -- or the breathtaking artifacts -- of what it was.
* This exhibition runs Oct 5, 2019–Apr 12, 2020.
* View the holiday tree exhibit (through Jan 5; see our listing) and the Air Force One Pavilion, along with this current special exhibition, all during one visit for the price of museum admission. But allow yourself PLENTY of time.
* Open seven days a week, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
* Facility features a nice cafeteria-style cafe.
* TIX include the exhibition and the 125,000 square feet of all the permanent exhibits and displays, including Air Force One; you need to allow three to four hours to enjoy all of the galleries and grounds. Gen'l adm $29.95, discounts for youth, kids, seniors; active US military get in free. Free parking. Tix available in advance or at the door. It's worth adding the $7 "audio tour." Online adv. tix:
https://www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/online-ticket-sales/
___
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More soon, as we get to and through it. Which is pretty much the way it is for all of us these days.
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As promised, here's a reprint of this important info from one of our February editions:
COVID-19 Coronavirus PRACTICAL PRECAUTIONS
(good for avoiding the "regular" flu & colds, too)
Compiled from medical and emergency responder databases and interview comments. Copy and paste into your phone / post / print / share.
• Coronavirus lives on inorganic surfaces anywhere from two hours to NINE DAYS; it all seems dependent on temperature, unless it is killed by disinfectant. When tests revealed that, even health care workers were surprised. It brings more emphasis to many of the following points.
• Everything you wear goes in the hamper. No multi-day wearings between washings.
• Wear a mask when you go to the doctor (remember, everybody else in the waiting room does not have what you have, and vice-versa) -- the check-in counter will give you a surgical mask if you ask, or maybe even tell you it's mandatory.
• Don't buy-up all tbe masks that medical responders need. Nearly all the masks in the stores are Dust Masks, made to keep carpenters and other tradesmen from inhaling sawdust. Expecting those to protect you from tiny viruses is like trying to filter water with a tennis racket. Plus, wearing masks everywhere is not a good idea -- without training and lots of practice, you'll contaminate the thing and then breathe a stewpot of microorganisms up-close and personal.
Read AND SHARE The Guide's complete feature story on the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the edition at: https://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2020/02/leap-day-weekend-leaping-into.html
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More soon, as we get to and through it. Which is pretty much the way it is for all of us these days.
See ya soon. Stay Tuneful!
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☆ THE ENTIRE CATALOGUE of all past editions of The Guide is available (and searchable!) FREE, in our archive. If you don't see the navigation pane on the left side of your screen, just click "view web version" and it'll magically appear (along with the correct photo, art, and page formats that you've been missing if you don't see that left-sidebar.)
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_________________________________________________
We have lots of MUSIC NEWS
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove, play a round or two
of checkers, and we'll be along...
directly.
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove, play a round or two
of checkers, and we'll be along...
directly.
_________________________________________________
On to the necessary boilerplate...
Boilerplate? What "boilerplate"? Where's the main pressure gauge? And the firebox? How do you add water so it won't blow-up?
Who came up with that goofy term for the basic essential informational stuff? ...obviously some dumbass...
Alright already, it's right down there...
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...
________________________________
Direct to the Guide's current editions /
MOBILE-DEVICE-FRIENDLY
editions load quickly at
Or at
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CONTACT US -- Post Comments / Send Questions / say Howdy at:
Tiedtothetracks (at) Hotmail (dot) com
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OR USE THE COMMENTS FUNCTION on the Blogspot site.
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Entire contents copyright © 2020,
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All rights reserved.
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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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We'll be back again soon with music news and more "News of the Non-Trumpcentric Universe." (c)
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Til we catch ya again on the flip side
in this new decade...
in this new decade...
as Buford the Wonder Dog looks on
and in our best Kathy Baker
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
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COVID-19 Coronavirus PRACTICAL PRECAUTIONS
(good for avoiding the "regular" flu & colds, too)
• Coronavirus lives on inorganic surfaces anywhere from two hours to NINE DAYS; it all seems dependent on temperature, unless it is killed by disinfectant. When tests revealed that, even health care workers were surprised. It brings more emphasis to many of the following points.
• Get the flu vaccine -- ordinary flu will likely mimic Coronavirus, so avoid being ostracized and quarantined.
• Wash your hands, a lot: scrub for 20 seconds and wash them often.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Keep your hands away from your face -- touching your nostrils, eyes, or mouth brings-in every germ your hands picked-up.
• Get a little bottle of hand sanitizer on a miniature carabiner. Clip it to your belt loop or purse strap and use it frequently. (Be sure you snap the lid shut, or it'll drain all over your clothes.) You can refill it from the pump bottle by the sink.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Stay home if you're sick -- even if you don't get paid, DON'T be the "Typhoid Mary" that brings a pandemic of this or ANYTHING contagious. If you're "taking one for the team," make it the big team -- ALL of us.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Everything you wear goes in the hamper. No multi-day wearings between washings.
• Keep track of where Coronavirus and other flus are headed, the latest ways to avoid contagion, and what symptoms go with what disease, by putting the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL in your favorites: www.cdc.gov
• Call your doctor or public health officials if you become symptomatic, and DON'T "just go" to the doctor or urgent care or ER; everybody else in the waiting room does not have what you have, and vice-versa.
• Don't buy-up all tbe masks that medical responders need. Nearly all the masks in the stores are Dust Masks, made to keep carpenters and other tradesmen from inhaling sawdust. Expecting those to protect you from tiny viruses is like trying to filter water with a tennis racket. Plus, wearing masks everywhere is not a good idea -- without training and lots of practice, you'll contaminate the thing and then breathe a stewpot of microorganisms up-close and personal.
• Get proper nutrition and plenty of sleep to support your immune system. THAT is THE best way to stay healthy.
• REALLY IMPORTANT: Think about what you routinely ignore:
~ your phone or tablet, which you constantly handle while you're touching everything else in the big, wide world, then keep handling when you're eating (keep your devices disinfected).
~ the Kleenex or cloth hankie you pull out of your pocket -- this time your nose or eye gets the side your dirty finger got last time (yeah, duh!)
~ door handles & knobs, especially "pull-to-exit" on the restroom door, and all door handles you grab or push.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ restaurant menus, salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard and hot sauce bottles that every unwashed hand touches. Same goes for bins of packaged condiments at fast foodies or convenience store / gas stations (Use 'em, then use your hand sanitizer.)
~ lunch buffet serving spoons, spatulas, tongs that every unwashed hand uses in the food bins (your freshly-washed hands just got contaminated). And if sneeze guard glass panes aren't at the right height or aren't clean, demand a refund and leave.
~ coins in change and money, in general -- coins and folding money are germ transit systems. (Back to your little bottle of hand sanitizer.)
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ remember to think and act consciously. There is an acute need to be mindful of others, so neither be paranoid reactive nor obliviously ignorant. There was great advice in the old cop show at the end of every briefing: "Be careful out there."
Read AND SHARE The Guide's complete feature story on the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the edition at: https://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2020/02/leap-day-weekend-leaping-into.html
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