Posts by Bondo Wyszpolski
Wine, women, and a gnarly old poet
Buried but ever present, Charles Bukowski keeps rolling along Most of us won’t be here to blow out the candles on our 95th birthday, nor did Charles Bukowski reach that milestone. Even so, a number of people will be celebrating for him this Sunday afternoon at the Warner Grand Theatre and surrounding venues in…
Read More“Tarzan: The Stage Musical” – Review
Although the runs are far shorter, 3D Theatricals has stepped in to fill a part of the musical void left by the departed Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities. And while the number of local performances (the company also operates in Fullerton) are fewer in number–only one weekend’s worth of shows next season–the production…
Read MoreBad Apples
In the musical “Hairspray,” mother and daughter are conniving and ruthless. The show opens Saturday in Torrance During rehearsal breaks, Megan Davis would go up to her fellow cast members and apologize: “I’m sorry I’m so mean!” Amanda Webb comes to her colleague’s defense, as well as her own: “Both of us are really nice…
Read MoreHigh Voltage: CA 101 art show is plugged into the AES Power Plant
The AES Power Plant in Redondo Beach will be generating an extra dose of energy this weekend and next. “CA 101,” an annual exhibition now in its fourth year, has again pulled in a multitude of visual artists from up and down the state, and by multitude we’re talking roughly 126 artists and 157 works,…
Read MoreWhen Art Dresses for Dinner
Some spicy talk with Homeira Goldstein Composer Richard Wagner broadened the way we experience opera, and now Homeira Goldstein is expanding our definition of art. Towards this end she has created an impressive website, but it’s not for self-aggrandizement, nor is it simply for the promotion of studio or gallery art, but rather…
Read MoreHoward Rumsey, Founding Father of West Coast Jazz, Dies at 97
by Ken Poston [Ken Poston is the director of the Los Angeles Jazz Institute, and this past May he presented a 5-day tribute to Howard Rumsey and the Lighthouse All Stars. A former deejay for KLON, Poston had collaborated with Rumsey on previous occasions and they were good friends] Howard Rumsey, one of the most…
Read MoreNeighborhood Stroll – Holly Socrates and the El Segundo Art Walk
Holly Socrates hasn’t been standing still. It was only last November that she opened her own art space–the petite Holly Socrates Gallery–on the corner of Franklin and Main in downtown El Segundo, across the street from Rock & Brews and an easy lob from ESMoA. Her business enterprise hardly off the ground, Socrates corralled various…
Read MoreAndrea del Sarto, Master Renaissance Draftsman
One cannot write in depth about an artist without placing him or her within the context of the era in which they lived and cavorted, and to write about Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) is to instantly shuffle him into the shadow of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and perhaps others such as Titian and Correggio.…
Read MoreMUSIC – Primal Scream
The record release party for Chaos Delivery Machine’s “Burn Motherf… Burn” takes place Saturday night at Fat Face Fenner’s on Hermosa’s Pier Plaza
Read MoreHome alone
Humble beginnings couldn’t deter Ranee Henderson. Now she’s the recipient of a solo show at the PV Art Center Ranee Henderson didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1981, the child of mixed-race parents. She was was raised by her mother and older sister while…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 06/18/15-06/22/15
Thursday, June 18 What’s not to like? Shakespeare by the Sea begins their 2015 touring season with “As You Like It,” Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (plus upcoming dates), at Point Fermin Park, 807 Paseo del Mar, San Pedro. It’ll be moving across the South Bay between now and the end of August, in tandem with…
Read MoreAnimal Farm at the Getty: Stay, Sit, Pose!
Animals in Photographs, by Arpad Kovacs (Getty Publications, 111 pp., $24.95) As an artistic medium, photography got cooking in the 1830s, but it wasn’t until 1870 that someone snapped a decent shot of a live animal in nature. Prior to that, because long exposures were required, an animal needed to be dead or comatose before…
Read MoreMagic Kingdom Memories
Reflections and thoughts on Disneyland’s newest milestone birthday I’m not sure if this means it’s now a senior citizen, but this summer the Disneyland Resort–or at least Disneyland proper–turns 60 years old, and over the past few weeks the world’s most famous theme park has been touting its Diamond Celebration for all it’s worth, which…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 06/11/15
Thursday, June 11 That softly glowing piano “Steinway by Starlight” features the Alan Pasqua Trio, performing the Great American Songbook, along with the CSUDH Jazz Ensemble, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theatre of California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson. Tickets, $30. Go to csudh.edu/uce/steinway. Time for Shorts is shorter Submissions…
Read MoreA man of Many Voices – Roberto Perlas Gomez in “Hydrogen Jukebox”
The last time I met with Roberto Perlas Gomez he talked about hijacking a ship somewhere in the Mediterranean. Oh yeah, right; sure thing, Roberto, uh-huh. But just days later pictures of him were in major newspapers, scowling at the camera and brandishing an AK-47. Gomez is a baritone who often sings with Long…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 06/04/15-06/07/15
Thursday, June 4 Takes two to tango The second annual “L.A. Tango Marathon,” also known as “The Endless Summer Tango,” begins today (there’s a 6 to 9 p.m. event at Dockweiler Beach in El Segundo) and continues through Sunday, but essentially brings tango dancers from all over the country to Los Angeles. Events also take…
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