[contextly_auto_sidebar] This year sees an unlikely but, I suspect, fortuitous paring: Pianist Vijay Iyer — one of the most inventive figures in jazz today — is curating the Ojai Music Festival, a friendly, mellow outdoor gathering dedicated to new, challenging, and rarely performed classical music. (The festival starts Thursday and runs through Sunday.) Part of Iyer’s emphasis is presenting … [Read more...]
Sgt Pepper’s at 50
[contextly_auto_sidebar] SO, you may have heard that a famous record from the ‘60s is marking an anniversary. If you’ve not heard more than you can stand about Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band — which the Beatles released 50 years ago today, in the States — let me offer the assessment of a longtime Fabs fan whose teenage years were in the ‘80s and whose most zealous listening years were … [Read more...]
Cory Doctorow’s Post-Apocalyptic Utopia
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE other day I hung out with Burbank resident and globe-trotter Cory Doctorow, who is a cult figure with a very large cult. We talked mostly about his new novel, Walkaway, which is intellectually fascinating and really moves. Will try to fill in this post a bit for now, but here is my LA Times profile. I will point out that obvious that I find him a bit … [Read more...]
All the Poets: Rhiannon Giddens
[contextly_auto_sidebar] The second installment of my Los Angeles Review of Books -- All the Poets, in which musicians discuss their literary influences -- went up the other day: Rhiannon Giddens, who earned her reputation with the string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops, talked to me about her childhood interest in science fiction, in the African roots of what we think of as Appalachian or … [Read more...]
Colm Toibin/ CultureCrash in Santa Monica
[contextly_auto_sidebar] FOLKS, I'll be interviewing the great Irish novelist -- known for The Master and Brooklyn -- onstage at Live TalksLA on Monday night. Be there or be square. Fancy tickets will get you a copy of his new Greek tragedy-inspired House of Names and an admission to the pre-show reception. Come over and say hi. Here's the announcement. UPDATE: Here's a video of our … [Read more...]
Brooklyn Rider and a New Cellist
[contextly_auto_sidebar] The celebrated New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider, which appears at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center on Saturday night, added a new cellist last year. Today Michael Nicolas, who replaced founder Eric Jacobsen, spoke to CultureCrash about the group, its repertoire, and his own role in the mix. The quartet will play music by Glass, Janacek, … [Read more...]
Songwriting’s Roots in Poetry and Prose
[contextly_auto_sidebar] GENERALLY, I'm skeptical of the glib and automatic denoting of any intelligent or articulate musician as "a poet." But the connection between popular song and literature go back, in the Anglo-American tradition, at least as long as The Beatles' interest in Lewis Carroll and Dylan's borrowing from Scottish Border ballads. Of course, at the beginning of the Western … [Read more...]
Bella Gaia at Cal Tech
[contextly_auto_sidebar] About a week ago, I saw something called Bella Gaia at Cal Tech's Beckmann Auditorium. I'm still not sure what it was. (At the very least, this was a film with live dancers and musicians in some places.) Overall, it struck me as a cross between a '70s planetarium show, Koyaanisqatsi, and a Thievery Corporation concert. I'll very much look forward to whatever … [Read more...]
The Late, Great Derek Walcott
[contextly_auto_sidebar] Folks, This week CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon looks at the legacy of the Saint Lucia-born, US-residing poet Derek Walcott, who died March 17. I share Christon's fondness for DW's verse, and was pleased enough to meet the poet once or twice at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Inst in CT, which I covered in the mid-'90s. It’s been nearly a month since … [Read more...]
Jeff Parker and Jazz Guitar
[contextly_auto_sidebar] FOR months now, one of the most intriguing instrumentalists in Los Angeles has been unspooling his style for the price of a drink in a small bar in Highland Park. Jeff Parker, longtime guitarist for the Chicago "post-rock" band Tortoise, has lived in Los Angeles for a few years now, and alongside playing with members of Spain and in drummer Matt Mayhall's trio, Parker … [Read more...]