Where To Play In L.A. This Week
Where to play in L.A. this week? Nowhere; it's Memorial Day Weekend in the city that never drives adequately. Luckily, you will not be suffering of FOMO as you beer and BBQ with family and friends this weekend, so milk the closeness. And if you cannot feign the closeness, be the one to explore the art of the grill in close physical proximity to those you love. Additionally, if you're trying to sleep with a celebrity or politician and you are NOT in it for the money, you might be eligible for a key to the city of West Hollywood. Today, May 23, 2018, is officially Stormy Daniels Day. Just an FYI, for that is a topic worth dissecting in an entirely different article, but I will say, screw the Trump drama, porn stars are people too, worthy of all of the rights and recognition and achievements and awards granted and afforded to the rest of humanity. That being said, I digress to more humans and happenings. Summer concerts are a plenty, including a handful of artists that may be closer to death than others, forcing my ticketed hand. Let's get real people, Tom Jones, Paul Simon, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Styx ring urgency in my mind if we want to see them perform in the flesh and not via hologram at their TBD memorials.
Tom Jones
May 24
6:30pm
Greek Theater
It's not unusual to want to see Tom Jones live on any given day of the year. The question is, how much time do we actually have left? Wallet, or lack thereof, and loathing The Greek aside, my mental bargaining chip to reluctantly skip his upcoming performance in L.A. is the fact that I figure my odds of seeing Jones at a later date this year, say in a Vegas or outside of Sin City casino residency, are high. Let's face it, he performs all of the time, since the beginning of his time. Tom Jones has never been in the woodwork. Still, I have no excuse for my lack of action in all of the years that I have been alive and either do you, so, here we are. This sentence shall serve as my promise to solemnly swear to save my sex bomb and secure a ticket the next time he comes within a seven hour drive of Los Angeles. Readers, you are my witnesses.
http://ticketmaster.com for tix and more info
http://tomjones.com/tour-dates for a complete list of tour dates
Paul Simon
May 22, May 23, May 28
8pm
Hollywood Bowl
Last night Paul Simon played to a sold out audience at the Hollywood Bowl. Tonight, he will do the same. If you missed the boat, just a few days ago, Paul Simon added an additional date at the Hollywood Bowl, on Memorial Day. He is currently carrying out his "Farewell Tour," which unlike most artists we have seen crawling out of a bush over the past ten years, reuniting for one last tour to sell out of their old merch and sell out stadiums across the country, only to then claim a second tour immediately following their first run, I believe him. Simon has stated numerous times in interviews he just wants to be with his family for the rest of his days, and this tour is for us, the fans, one last lick at the greatness of his musically genius presence. He is "Homeward Bound." I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I will be attending the Hollywood Bowl this Monday, and the shit show of traffic and intoxicated persons I will most likely have to navigate through for most of the day. But, it's Paul Simon. If you saw or will see him this week, you know what I am talking about, and I wish you all the best of luck attempting to physically get in and out of there on one of the busiest traveling days of the year. We can do this! We are a rock! We are an island!
http://ticketmaster.com for tix and more info
http://paulsimon.com/events for a complete list of tour dates
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Styx
May 30
7pm
Five Point Amphitheater
And, for the kicker, this week peaks with musical artist mayhem as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts AND Styx will share the stage at Five Point Amphitheater, whatever the hell that is. All I know is it's in Irvine, I bought tickets, and I have a savvy navigational app called Waze. This concert is double the pleasure not only in lineup but in popping my Joan Jett live cherry, bomb. Because I am no one, celebrity interactions such as the following mean a great deal to me. Can you relate? If not, perhaps you are an animal lover? ASPCA and PETA and Vegans a California plenty, read on. I did meet Joan Jett one time, around the baggage carousel after a flight we shared from Tampa, FL to JFK. At that time, I was permitted to bring my Support Animal in the cabin of Jet Blue air crafts on my lap, and I introduced him to Joan as we waited for our luggage. I said "Do you wanna touch?" And she replied, "Yeah." She loved my bearded dragon Massacre and even asked to hold him, which really solidified my love for her as a human. Most people, such as my family, scream and run from my reptiles. Pics or it didn't happen?---see below. I did not know at the time, but shortly following this multi-species encounter, I discovered via the world wide news on the world wide web that she and her lawyers had just filed and delivered a cease and desist letter to Sea World, addressing the use of her song "I Love Rock and Roll" as part of a recurring whale "performance" show. Jett stated she was aware of and opposed to the horrible treatment that these wild mammals endure in the forcibly enclosed spaces of the facility in order to perfect unnatural blubber bearing animal song and dance routines for the continued daily admission of deeply pocketed patrons--my words, paraphrasing the gist of hers. Hence, I love Joan so big. Styx, is a bonus, but really an afterthought.
http://livenation.com for tix and more info
http://joanjett.com/tour for a complete list of tour dates
The Exhibition Back-burner.
(for when there's still time for you to find time)
Beyond The Streets
May 6 to July 6
Daily 12pm to 7pm (Closed Mondays)
1667 N. Main Street Los Angeles
This one is a big one. Beyond The Streets spans for streets, and luckily for us, lasts for months. May 6th through July 6th make an effort to make your way over to Chinatown. Then, brace yourself for over 40,000 square feet of industrial indoor and outdoor space celebrating graffiti, street art, and BEYOND. Beyond includes paintings, sculpture, photography, and installations for your experiencing pleasure. If you're thinking this is unpro, you are wrong. The exhibition is curated by graffiti historian, urban anthropologist, and collector Roger Gastman, known worldwide for being, "the cultural connector between street artists and the art world," as quoted by Forbes. This event spawns from his previous Art In The Streets exhibition, the U.S.'s first graffiti and street art historic anthology at MoCa. The list of contributing artists is endless but spikes with many notorious names including Guerrilla Girls, Dennis Hopper, and Takashi Murakami.
Leave your paint and markers at home, this is not an interactive exhibition.
http://beyondthestreets.com for tix and more info
Happy Place
Daily April 26 to May 27
LA Live - 1005 Chick Hearn Court
Seems like things are just "popping up" all over the damn place these days. Well, we are quite the non-committal community in Los Angeles. Complementary to that County characteristic, we now have pop up experiences, like Happy Place. It is an immersive multi room larger than life installation heaven haven-ed on the Event Deck at L.A. Live. Just a warning, Happy Place appears like another one of those Museum of Ice Cream/Yayoi Kusama timed entry non-transferable get your tickets now before they are all sold out type of exhibits, not that there's anything wrong with that. I am an enjoyer of immersion in foreign spaces so however lame, I am game, especially if my face looks like a smiling emoji when I leave. Plus, they claim to have the "world's largest confetti dome," so there's that. I can cross another Guinness holder off my list right next to the world's largest ball of twine. Most appealing, it feels like the kind of event that will allow me to crawl on the floor like a baby, channeling my inner child and inner comedic commentary whilst people watching. Win. And you have another thirty days to set a date.
http://happyplace.me for tix and more info
King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh
Daily until January 19
California Science Center
The collection is the largest ever to be displayed outside of Egypt. LA is just one location as part of a years-long international tour. Why now? Well, it's the centennial of the discovery of King Tut's tomb by British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922. Don't worry, you have plenty of time, it's open from 10am to 5pm daily until January 19th of next year.
http://californiasciencecenter.org for tickets and more info
Museum of Failure
Daily until March 8, 2019
Hollywood & Highland
From Sweden to Hollywood, this exhibit with spend 1 year inviting Los Angelans and beyond a look into great failures over human history. This museum is a reminder when in this world it seems there is no time for failure (or that any misstep is death sentence of perpetual inability), failures often precede works of art, and if we don't learn to learn from and later laugh at ours, we will become resistant to trying and in turn resistant to living with our imperfect selves or imperfections. They are there for a reason, and they have a purpose. Our greatest failures as artists have the potential to birth our greatest assets if we take the time to channel them.
http://failuremuseum.com for tickets and more info
Noah's Ark
Permanent Exhibition
Skirball Cultural Center
A permanent collection for kids, yet playing and climbing a life size arc filled with animals sounds like a great time for me. Finding your inner child as an adult is a must if you are going to survive in this world where people, places, and things old and new become less and less mind blowing. Ya feel me? Oh they invented a flying car? Figured they'd do that.
Sensory Sensitive Fridays encourage and accommodate through art special demos and activities for children with developmental disabilities such as Autism. I find this very very spectacular as studies show that Autistic children learn from and interact best with other children their own age as opposed to adults. Add art to the equation = gold.
https://www.skirball.org/noahs-ark for tickets, calendar of events, and more info
Something I missed? If you have an event, let me know, submit via email art@theanalartist.life
GOOD LUCK.