All About Love
All you need is love…it’s so true. So I jetted out to Las Vegas for a weekend to see the show called “Love,” a sweeping, magical interpretation of the Beatles music as done by the twirling, dancing masters of Cirque Du Soleil. With a spectacular feast for the eyes and the timeless hooks of all those Beatles classics, this show is pop treat not to be missed. Aerial dancers, wacky characters, colorful costumes and whimsical stage props – my favorite: the enormous silhouette shadows of the all four Beatles strumming along, their mannerisms so distinct you could pick each one out without seeing their faces. Dancers pranced and twirled on stage and overhead in a story loosely based on the lives of the band from post-WWII Liverpool to Beatlemania and a moving segment portraying young John Lennon witnessing his mother’s death when she was struck by a car.
Feeling totally filled up and rejuvenated by the power of rock ‘n’ roll, we headed out after the show for a nightcap at the Onda Restaurant where I indulged in a divinely scrumptious White Chocolate Espresso Martini and we had a perfect window view of the international troupe of Cirque dancers as they came out from the dressing room. Later we took in the psychedelic go-go dancers shakin’ their moves in the wall of giant letters of the R-E-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N Bar. I am the Eggman, I am the Walrus…
Check out more on the show on the official site: www.cirquedusoleil.com
Are you alive in Los Angeles? I found out how to be when I went on the Museum of Neon Art’s Beat Poets tour. Although the lights went out on this downtown museum that lost its lease in January, the staff continues to bring some of LA’s neon gems to the masses through their once-a-month tours. I hopped aboard for the winter tour, which combines spoken word with architecture and cocktails, beginning inside the stunning Los Angeles Theatre. After ogling the golden palace that is usually closed to the public, the tour kicked off with a slam of words from Mike the Poet, his partner Phill Harmonic and percussionist Bongo Matt. Choice words about LA rolled and punched with a perspective that is often lost in the grind of day to day living:
“I’m alive in Los Angeles!
Where the angles change like isosceles
Citywide topographies
Undulate across mass landscape
Moving from chain-link to palatial gates
Into separate economic states
With rising birth rates below hilltops into the streetscapes…”
We boarded the bus that took us to Chinatown, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Hollywood, Koreatown with stops at classic watering holes the Broadway Bar, the Frolic Room and Frank N Hanks. Throughout our journey Mike the Poet let off rhymes through the bus’s PA system and shared his infectious passion for this city aglow with contrasts. He intermixed his poems with a soundtrack of songs about Los Angeles including X, the Doors and Elliott Smith and others. Most impressive was the sidewalk slam outside Frank N Hank’s that had people dropping their drinks and gathering outside the bar and cheering along. We are alive in Los Angeles! For some great words that will open your eyes to all that is to behold of our fair city, pick up Mike the Poet’s recently published book and check him out on mySpace: www.myspace.com/mikethepoet
Another artist who appreciates good landscapes is Vija Celmins whose collection of drawings is on display at the Hammer Museum. Working with photography taken of what she calls “spaces unbound” such as star-stippled nighttime skies, infinite ripples of ocean, unending desert floors, she subtly alters the perception through shifts in scale and reversal of depth. With a photo for inspiration, she takes a canvas and blackens it with graphite, then erases away white space to recreate the image in her photographs. A shooting star, a spider web, the delicate wonder of nature take on new meaning in this reversal of imagery in Celmins’ stunning exhibit. Check it out for yourself through April 22.
Forget American Idol, for a dose of talent right here in LA’s backyards, head down to LaBoheme’s Upright Cabaret nights, where a mixed crowd of West Hollywood hipsters gather to hear working and aspiring theatre singers give it what they got one song at a time. The best part is the surprise of never knowing what you’re going to get, surprise performances by Broadway stage stars is common and with the constant revolving door of talent on stage, if one doesn’t suit your fancy, wait five minutes, the next one probably will. And best of all you can have dinner or drinks in the lush gothic setting of this opulent space. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats! For more go to www.uprightcabaret.com
I made a pit stop at a tiny little gallery in the Valley called the Drkrm. to check out a photo exhibit of Bowie and Jagger by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. Candid black ‘n’ whites on the set of “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and “Performance” made you want to run and add those films to your Netflix queue. It’s also clear what triple threats Bowie and Jagger really are – they can sing, they can act, and they are stunningly unique looking! I haven’t seen anybody else come along that has the legend power of these two. If you missed the show, you can still check out, and even purchase some of the pix here: www.drkrm.com and watch for more cool exhibits on their web site: www.drkrm.com/gallery.
Every picture tells a story,
K.
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