Country music gets a bad rap. If you like country, depending on who your friends are, you are either a) quite accustomed to defending the genre, or b) thinking, who doesn’t like country? Lots of people. I myself am not crazy about it, with some exceptions. Katy Moffatt, we hope, might number among them. The [...]
At one time or another, we all scream for ice cream—or so the ancient wisdom goes. Myself, I tend just to exclaim modestly, and not necessarily for ice cream. A cookie will do just fine, usually. Pie is tops. That said, say the words seasonal, artisanal or vintage* and my ears, like any chowhound’s, perk [...]
The first A Noise Within production I ever wrote about for this site was Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s 1982 British “farce from behind,” a play within a play, in which a band of ill-equipped actors strive to put on “a dreadful sex comedy.” It was a smashing success—the play, that is (my post was ho-hum): [...]
The 16th century meeting of the civilizations of Europe and the Americas is one of the most influential periods in the history of the modern world. The processes set in motion by the “Contact” have shaped, and will continue to shape, the lives of countless people. As with so much else in the popular imagination, [...]
Kenton Nelson, as if you didn’t already know, is a Very Big Deal around these parts. Something about his neo-WPA style absolutely screams Pasadena. The Castle Green turret used to be his studio, but now he resides in a compound of old cottages off the Arroyo, in an artists’ colony of his own making. He’s [...]
In a deep underground chamber of the Pasadena Playhouse is the Carrie Hamilton Theatre, which hosts, by day, performances of mind control experiments, and, by night, free readings of new, sometimes experimental, plays. The series is called Hot House at the Playhouse, and is designed to give playwrights access to the staff and resources of [...]
His songs and organ works, to be precise. But not all of them. To be even more precise, Musica Angelica, one of So Cal’s premier Baroque ensembles, will perform 1) the Schemelli songs and arias, 2) the Toccata and Fugue in d minor, 3) the Passacaglia in c minor for Organ, BMV582, and 4), Prelude [...]
Or, in real words, the Pasadena Master Chorale will be hosting the Cornell Glee Club this Sunday. The PMC will open with performances of the “Introit” and “Kyrie” from Mozart’s Requiem (the PMC is all about the Requiem this month, it seems), to be followed by the CGC and their multi-cultural choral repertoire: American folk [...]
This is actually two readings in one (post). The first is this Friday, when Wendy Mogel, author of the beloved parenting manual The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, discusses and signs her latest, The Blessing of a B Minus: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Resilient Teenagers. You don’t have to be of the chosen people [...]
Like everything else in town, the PCC Flea Market was displaced by the Rose Festivities. Ordinarily held the first Sunday of every month, the Market has been moved to next Sunday, the 9th. It’s an earthly paradise for record collectors, supposedly one of the best record swaps in Southern California. For everybody else, there’s everything [...]
