FOR a jazz fan, Internet radio can be like going to one of those really bad mall food courts: Despite the superficial variety, much of what's served is awfully gooey. There are several "smooth" jazz stations for every one that plays real music. (This reflects, surely, the state of today's marketplace.) Commercial jazz radio us is not much better.But from an airy modernist house in Palm Springs, a … [Read more...]
Archives for 2011
Jo Nesbo and Nordic Noir
FOR years now we've been hearing about a charismatic Norwegian crime writer whose novels were plotted with verve and driven by a weirdly compelling alcoholic detective. With the success of Stieg Larsson's Girl trilogy, the time may be ripe for Jo Nesbo, whose sometimes horrifying new novel, The Snowman, kicks ass.I spoke to Nesbo from his home in Oslo recently for a profile in this Sunday's Los … [Read more...]
Actor Roger Guenveur Smith
TODAY I have a story in the LA Times on the actor Roger Guenveur Smith, who has acted in a number of Spike Lee movies and chronicled American -- and especially California -- history through his solo theater pieces.One of them, Juan and John -- about a fight between Dodger John Roseboro and Giant Juan Marichal -- comes to the Kirk Douglas Theatre this week. I'm traveling this week, so have to be … [Read more...]
From Nick Drake to Spanish Guitar
READERS of The Misread City know of this blog's fondness for the California-inspired English band The Clientele, who mix elements of British folk-rock with the West Coast pop of Love and The Mamas & The Papas. Since their wonderfully atmospheric and tuneful LP, Bonfires on the Heath, lead singer/guitarist Alasdair MacLean has been wondering about the next right step for his band, and he's now … [Read more...]
New History of Jazz
WEST Coast culture vultures know the name Ted Gioia for his fabulous West Coast Jazz, which looked at the scenes in LA and San Francisco starting with Dexter Gordon on Central Avenue and moving through the cool school and Dave Brubeck. Not only is the book a great read, it provoked a reconsideration of what was then a criminally overlooked time and place. Gioia -- who has since written a very … [Read more...]
The Misread City at Festival of Books
THIS weekend your humble blogger will be around the LA Times Festival of Books at USC... That is, if I don't accidentally end up at UCLA.I'll be there both days, and on Sunday at 3 p.m. will moderate a panel on authors with backgrounds in music. The panel -- I don't name these things, folks, is called "A New Chord: From Stage to Page."My three panelist:Nathan Larson was lead guitarist for Shudder … [Read more...]
Cameron Carpenter, Classical Wild Man
THE young organist Cameron Carpenter is a thinker, a talker, a rebel and a nearly androgynous figure in white jeans -- I think of him as a cross between '50s Glenn Gould and '70s David Bowie. He makes other classical iconoclasts I know -- Jeremy, for instance -- seem middle of the road.I spoke to Carpenter for the Los Angeles Times Influences column, which I am taking over for a while. When I told … [Read more...]
Composer Peter Lieberson, RIP
IT"S easy to recall the rude good health with which Peter Lieberson, a serene and gracious Santa Fe-based composer who was in town for a new piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, greeted me in 2005.Peter Lieberson, 1946-2011We spoke about the poetry of Neruda -- the inspiration for his latest piece -- his range of classical influences, the music of jazz pianist Bill Evans, his interest in … [Read more...]
Conference for Aspiring Musicians
NEXT week ASCAP will hold a conference dedicated to beginning and mid-career musicians and songwriters: The I Create Music Expo, held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, will school them in the business side of things and in staying afloat during a very tough time in the industry. It's an especially tough time for aesthetes and introverts: The current climate requires a strong degree of … [Read more...]
Sofia Coppola’s "Somewhere" on DVD
EVERYTHING was nicely lined up -- and then the sky started falling. “The week before the filming was about to start,” Sofia Coppola recounts, “the studio changed the deal, and it fell through. And my dad came to the rescue; our French distributor got involved… But it was really nerve-wracking. It’s stressful enough, already, making your first film.” Who needs a funding disaster on top of … [Read more...]