True story: the Arts & Crafts movement began in Great Britain. Not only does Wikipedia say so, but so does Anne Mallek, the curator of the Gamble House and an historian of 19th-century British art. She’ll be discussing those origins this Saturday in the first lecture of the 2010/2011 Sidney D. Gamble lecture series. In [...]
Kim Dower is a wonderful human being. Her first collection of poems, Air Kissing on Mars, was just released by Red Hen Press (“the pimpest little press in the west”)* at the beginning of the month. She’s been on a whirlwind tour of LA lit venues, culminating this Saturday with a reading and free poetry [...]
Though known mostly as a folk joint, the Coffee Gallery occasionally hosts jazz bands, too, such as this Friday’s performance by Lit by Fireflies, a quartet (sax, piano, bass, drums) with experience in everything from rock and pop to world music and electronica. They play original tunes as well as striking arrangements of songs from [...]
I had a roommate in college who majored in Ecology, Evolution, & Environmental Biology (E3B colloquially). One semester he took a class on primates, and spent weeks lecturing anyone who would listen about the differences between apes and monkeys. To his chagrin, I have retained almost nothing concerning this crucial zoological distinction. Luckily, I can [...]
The Pasadena Symphony’s inaugural performances of the 2010/11 Symphony Classics season will take place this Saturday not once but twice: a 2 p.m. matinee has been added to the regular 8 p.m. show. The program is downright nifty: Rossini’s Overture to La gazza ladra, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, and Barber’s Violin Concerto, with renowned soloist [...]
The name of Southern California’s most acclaimed—indeed, only—classical theater repertory company, A Noise Within, makes for easy wordplaying, though some attempts are better than others. Our latest titular sally refers to ANW’s production of Noel Coward’s 1941 comedy, Blithe Spirit. Taking its name from a Shelly poem, the play depicts a “just for fun” séance [...]
When I was in the second grade I had a friend with a Buddhist mother who served him couscous as an after school snack. It had a funny name and looked a lot like rice but didn’t taste at all like rice, so I didn’t like it. Having long since outgrown this youthful prejudice, this [...]
Everyday, the Norton Simon screens “The Art of Norton Simon” and “Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon” at least thirty-seven times. They have a really nice theater, the kind it would be really cool to see the new True Grit in. Since that’s unlikely to happen for a good 50 years or more, we’d happily [...]
It’s a busy weekend for the arts in Pasadena—indeed, it’s ArtWeekend. The big attraction is Friday’s ArtNight, what with all that free stuff. Don’t go too bananas on Friday, though, as Sunday has a festival of its own—the Old Pasadena Cultural Dance Festival: two locations, five hours, and thirteen troupes worth of bodies in motion. [...]
The Second Annual Pasadena Wine Festival is not in Pasadena at all, but in Arcadia, at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, a venue which is no stranger to large events. There will be roughly one wine for every acre—125 wines from around the globe to the Arboretum’s 127 acres (though we’re hoping they’re not, you [...]
