Entries tagged 'events'

as laist covered and i said i’d mention earlier, there is a benefit concert this sunday at mr. t’s bowl in highland park, featuring the reunion of emm’t swank and performances by other great bands.

and tonight (and tomorrow), you can see the lyric opera of los angeles perform manon lescaut at the los angeles theatre on broadway. you can get free tickets through brady westwater.

fyn stec is an almost-five-year-old who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer (hepatoblastoma), and there will be a silent auction at the cartoon networks studios to help his parents with medical expenses (and any additional funds will go to the childrens hospital los angeles). you can preview the art on the website, and submit bids online, but the final auction happens this thursday. there will also be a benefit concert in a couple of weeks — i’ll fill in the details when we’re closer to that.

smoosh got signed to a new record deal, with their new album coming out on june 20. they’ll be touring with the eels, and playing los angeles at the end of may. but it looks like those shows may already be sold out. (spotted at laist.)

the blood drive is underway, the laura esguerra adams foundation has a shiny new website, and for some reason you’re sitting at a computer instead of heading down to donate blood.

i got 86’d because i’m coming down with a cold. but that’s okay, it just means i get to join the “club 86” raffle, where i could win a $100 gift certificate for patina, an alarm clock that moos, or some other fabulous prizes.

they’ll be handling blood donations until at least 8pm, and then everything shifts over to cole’s for the after-party. come on down!

the march/rally was huge. estimates put it over 100,000 people. we didn’t head towards city hall at all, but there were people streaming down broadway, spring, and even main street (and probably hill street).

i put a few more photos up. you can also check out dave bullock’s photos of the march.

we ran into a couple (british or australian, my bet would be australian) in pershing square who had no idea what they had gotten themselves into when they decided to visit downtown today. i wonder how the los angeles conservancy’s walking tours went today.

someone needs to explain to me what the political value of waving around the flag of mexico or nicaragua is at a march like this.

cole’s pacific electric buffet and the new laura esguerra adams foundation is sponsoring a blood drive next friday, march 31, in downtown los angeles.

there will be an after-party at cole’s featuring i see hawks in l.a., just like last year.

also, in the goodie bag for blood donators will be a free copy of love smart by dr. phil. so if you happen to have my sort of luck and meet someone really special at the blood drive, you’ll be able to learn what to do. or you can make a few bucks selling it on ebay.

(if there are businesses downtown that wanted to support a great cause, and pick up a little promotional value from reaching that precious downtown audience, they would do well to kick in some gifts for the goodie bags.)

my girlfriend celia and i were eating breakfast when we noticed people streaming down main, spring, and broadway. once we noticed a few of the people were carrying signs that said “no to hr 4437,” we were able to do the necessary googling to find out that there is a protest against an immigration bill that starts at 10am at olympic and broadway today.

we may check out the protest and march in a little bit before heading to see some of the buildings that are open as part of the downtown living weekend, and i’ll be sure to take my camera.

on saturday, celia and i headed over to chinatown for the 107th annual golden dragon parade. we got to be up in the grandstands, so i had an excellent vantage point for taking lots of pictures. i managed to fill a 1gb flash card, and hadn’t thought to bring my spare.

i’m not sure how the 42nd regimental pipes and drums fit into a chinese new year parade, but it worked. at least as well as the marching band from baja california.

we actually bailed out on the parade before it was over and headed across the street to get some food, and the parade was just wrapping up when we were done eating, which seems to me like an awfully long parade.

last night was the ambassador hotel wake, which mack of lavoice.org has already covered (although our paths did not cross). there was a large number of los angeles bloggers there: mike of franklin avenue, will and jillian of blogging.la, josh of curbed la (no, i don’t know which one, but i’m just “a reader”), carolyn of laist, kevin of la observed, joseph of martini republic, shannon, and my girlfriend celia.

there may have been more we met and i forgot, and almost certainly more that we just didn’t meet.

the ambassador wake has been rescheduled for february 2 (groundhog day). you’ll need to rsvp because the booze is free and space may be limited.

i see hawks in l.a. have moved their “cole’s acoustic wednesday” to friday, and it is now weekly instead of monthly, at least through the next several weeks. they also have a new album coming out (sometime this year?) — you can check out some new tracks on myspace.

next january 24, there will be a wake for the now-gone ambassador hotel at the hms bounty, across the street from the hotel (or where it was).

unfortunately, this is the same night as craig “craigslist” newmark’s appearance at the los angeles central library. maybe i’ll try to make both, but it seems more likely that i’ll ditch the library thing.

update: or not. the date for the wake will likely be shifting, as the event may combine with another that the los angeles conservancy was planning.

at the japanese-american national museum in little tokyo, there is oshogatsu: new year family day festival on sunday, and it is also when the big drum: taiko in the united states exhibit closes. there’s also a concert on saturday night. i’ve been meaning to head over there for a while, i guess i’ll have to make sure to do so this weekend.

the la auto show starts this weekend. although i am not really a car guy, i was thinking of going on sunday. i’m not picky when it comes to excuses to take pictures of things.

i finally made it out to little pedro’s last night to see mickey champion, south side slim, and some others whose names i did not catch. the music was great, the fried chicken was good, and the corn bread isn’t worth quibbling about.

giant village 2006 is a big new years eve thing happening in downtown los angeles. the flaming lips are playing, along with a bunch of other interesting acts. tickets are $80, or $150 for vip tickets that get you into a special lounge at the pegasus.

and next wednesday, i see hawks in l.a. does the cole’s thing again.

1. take the day off work
2. watch the vikings eke out another win
3. go see i see hawks in l.a. play at the echo
4. discover the chapin sisters

there’s 69 pictures in my set of photos from the doo dah parade, culled from the 287 pictures i shot.

i ended up shooting everything with my new zoom lens, which was a lot of fun. it was a little frustrating having to shoot around the heads of the people in front of me, and the cameraman from channel 7 was really annoying at the beginning of the parade (but he eventually moved elsewhere and stopped getting in my shots).

the shot above is my favorite, but i’m also happy i was able to capture a fire breather in the act, this creepy clown, the briquette girls, the raelian ufo, this crazy giant-wheeled bicycle contraption, and this juggler with the humboldt state university marching lumberjacks.

next year, i’ll have to remember sunblock (ouch), and get there a little earlier to stake out a better position. or bring a step ladder, and just stand up behind the crowd.

the los angeles downtown news explains how mickey champion ended up performing at little pedro’s every week. going to one of her performances is one of those things on my to-do list that never gets done.

the pasadena doo dah parade, the chaotic spoof of the annual new year’s day rose parade, is coming up this sunday. like hexod.us, i have never been and may just have to rectify that. i should have my new zoom lens to play around with by then, too.

GO!

there will be a screening of the new film version of the producers at the orpheum theatre in downtown los angeles on december 14, 2005. you can buy tickets online ($50/person for non-reserved seating, or $150/person for reserved seats and a vip reception), and the proceeds benefit la’s best after school arts program.

my usual food festival cohort bailed on me, but i made it out to the tamale festival anyway. and took pictures, of course.

i had tamales from three different booths, but didn’t feel up to braving the monster line for another at molly’s tamales. the ones i had were all excellent.

there was a free ring toss game sponsored by some tequila company. i managed to get two of three of my rings on a bottle. unfortunately, the prize was just a deck of cards (well, two), and not the bottle of tequila.

the 1st annual los angeles international tamale festival and carnival 2005 is this weekend, and it’s right across the street from not a cornfield. (spotted at blogging.la.)

culture clash, an “infamous chicano performance group,” will be at the central library as part of the zócalo series on december 14. you might think i’m mentioning this early, but someone beat me to it a long time ago. you can actually make (free) reservations now.

the zócalo event earlier this week at the national center for the preservation of democracy in little tokyo, with los angeles times editor dean baquet and moderated by l.a. observed’s kevin roderick, didn’t really light any fires. but baquet did make it pretty clear that he was concerned about making sure the times reclaims more of a los angeles voice.

something i don’t think i’ve seen noted anywhere else is that the new blogs from the times, like gold derby and the movable buffet, are being hosted by typepad. and they’ve got rss feeds. now if only the actually news site did.

the los angeles conservancy is having a benefit at the former cathedral of st. vibiana on november 12. tickets start at $350 ($275 is tax-deductible).

when i was walking by the building yesterday, i was able to peek in and see how things were progressing. i took a picture (through the fence), but it didn’t turn out.

the same night, lauren bacall and larry gelbart will be doing readings at the central library as part of the gregory peck reading series. that’s free, if you’re a library associates member at the right level.

the not a cornfield project near chinatown has been fun to watch grow, but i’ve never actually been down to the site. i’ve just seen it from the gold line.

i think i’ll rectify that on sunday, and head out there for the weekly drum circle and harvesting. i’ve been itching to get out and take some pictures of something.

it’s almost the end of the month, which means it is almost time for the monthly truly acoustic wednesday at cole’s featuring i see hawks in l.a. and amy farris. it’s october 26 at 9pm.

also, the upcoming.org cats are having their farewell-to-los-angeles party on saturday, october 22. it starts at the broadway bar in downtown los angeles at 8pm.

i think there’s something else happening this weekend, but i don’t remember what it is.

in film pitch speak, heyletsgo.com is friendster meets upcoming.org meets evite. social networking built around activity planning. another web 2.0 beta site.

this may be the site for you, if you’re not like me and “the most important information in my daily life is, simply, what are my friends doing?”

it may also be the site for you if you know you want to go to some event and want to find a friend-of-a-friend to go with.

the site, inasmuch as i’ve poked around, seems very well done. but as you might have guessed, i just don’t see myself being a regular user. it models a sort of social dynamic that i just don’t feel any resonance with.

drop me a line if you want an invite.

next friday between noon and 2pm, there will be a “public safety appreciation barbecue” at pershing square. i can’t imagine a safer time to visit pershing square. (not that it is ever particularly unsafe.)

it sounds like a $2 donation may be required, with proceeds going to the los angeles firemen’s relief association.

salon’s audiofile has imogen heap’s “hide and seek” as a free download. speak for yourself, her solo album, will finally be released here on november 1.

she’ll also be playing at hotel cafe on october 26.

i am a sucker for the zócalo and alôud events at the library and other downtown venues, and coming up on november 1 is dean baquet, newly named editor of the los angeles times, being interviewed by kevin roderick of laobserved.com at the new national center for the preservation of democracy in little tokyo.

smoosh is playing the el rey theatre on october 20.

1% for the planet is an organization that is getting companies to donate 1% of their net sales to environmental causes. it was founded by yvon chouinard, the founder of patagonia. i may quibble with it only being 1%, and net instead of gross, but it is a start.

chouinard spoke at the library last night about his book, let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman. it sounds like a great book, and i’m on the hold list for it at the library now.

tony pierce wrote up his experience from last night’s politics of science journalism panel so i think that means i don’t have to. it was entertaining.

the producers guild of america is doing a benefit for the los angeles conservancy at the orpheum on saturday, october 15th with a cocktail reception, vaudeville show and screening of the freshman with accompaniment on the 1928 mighty wurlitzer organ. tickets are available from ticketmaster for $40 plus the $5.75 “convenience” charge and $2.50 for the privilege of printing out the tickets at home (or more to mail them, or no charge to pick them up at will call).

the los angeles press club is hosting a panel on the politics of science journalism tonight. conveniently located near the vermont and sunset red line station.

when leonard got in touch with me to pick my brain a little bit about the blo.gs acquisition experience, i didn’t have an inkling that he would be joining yahoo! along with the rest of the upcoming.org team.

congrats!

when i look at the hobbled state of blo.gs, i lament, a little bit, my decision to not go to yahoo with the site.

ugh. so much more i could say. but no more angsty bullshit.

los angeles downtown news confirms what i had questioned in the article from the los angeles times about the sheriff’s department “dumping” of someone near the midnight mission: “Ward, the Midnight Mission spokesman, confirmed that the single-file line often stretches to Seventh and San Pedro streets.”

other interesting bits of news:

• the grand avenue festival is next weekend.
• the art district farmers’ market is struggling, but local developers have chipped in to keep it going. the city council is looking at extending the run of the financial district farmers’ market, and possibly moving it to pershing square.
• this interview with ed begley jr. is fun. he’s starring in david mamet’s romance, which opens next weekend.
• microsoft is relocating their los angeles offices to downtown.

also, pete’s got a review in the times, although it is a pretty goofy review.

twenty-four los angeles museums are free tomorrow, october 1. that includes moca and the japenese american national museum downtown. (spotted by art.blogging.la.)

also, there’s a screening tomorrow night of infamy, a documentary about graffiti artists by doug pray, director of hype! and scratch.

the old bank district artwalk will be taking place on sunday, october 2nd. you’ll have the chance to poke around the lofts of my talented neighbors, hear some other talented neighbors play their music on main street, and otherwise revel in the talentedness of my neighbors.

this is the same day is the self-guided wilshire tour, which i guess poses certain logistical problems.

there’s also some sort of evening event to celebrate the centennial of the farmers and merchants bank building, but i don’t think you’re invited. (i’m not even sure i’m invited. i’m assuming something will get slipped under my door at some point.)

the picture is from last year’s artwalk, where they had a bunch of ribbon strung out between the fixtures on either side of main street. as i recall, i spent the artwalk last year reading a book and nursing a horrible headache. here’s another picture i took last year.

the second-to-last grand performances event of the year is upon us today, a free lunch concert by i see hawks in la.

yeah, this is pretty last-minute — the concert is at noon.

they’ll also be playing at cole’s next wednesday night. (but i’ll have to miss that one. my flight gets in after 11pm.)

bar 107 is the new name of the bar formerly known as score that is just up the street from me. in its previous incarnations it was one of the oldest gay bars in los angeles, but the new ownership has gone in a new direction.

on friday, it is the venue for an ’80s prom.

tragically, i will have to miss it. i’ve got a midnight flight.

okay, that’s not really even the slightest bit tragic.

dave wrote up his shopping foray at the downtown farmers market today. mine was much less exciting, because i couldn’t just buy food that would rot in my fridge while i was away. so i only bought a couple of things i needed for the next few days.

and some fresh roasted peanuts. if anyone was ever trying to get me to do something, bribing me with fresh roasted peanuts would probably render me powerless to resist. yummy.

sadly, there will only be one more downtown farmers market for me this year (on october 5).

• solicitation from america’s second harvest
• invitation to a cocktail reception at grace home furnishings where a portion of the benefits will go to the los angeles conservancy
• invitation to viva vibiana: the resurrection of a historic landmark, a conservancy event at st. vibiana’s cathedral in november — tickets start at $350/person

the different levels of sponsorship for the event at st. vibiana’s is kind of humorous in that it becomes more expensive per-person at each level. (but those different levels also include different perks other than additional admissions — presumably you can just buy a block of individual tickets, too.)

also, yesterday i got a newsletter from amnesty international.

the united state of electronica are playing at cinespace in hollywood tonight. you can check out some of their music on myspace.

they also played the knitting factory last night.

tonight’s show is actually part of the afterparty for another show.

i think i forgot to check my mail on wednesday. so this may be two day’s worth:

• invitation and reservation form for the literary odyssey dinners benefitting the los angeles public library (starting at $350/seat)
• solicitation from the carter center
• invitation and reservation form for “a season for sharing dinner” benefitting the los angeles regional foodbank (starting at $500/seat)
• solicitation from acción international
• newsletter from la’s best
• thank you letter and receipt from la’s best

the literary odyssey dinners sound kind of cool — it is a bunch of 16-40 person dinners with various authors in different sponsor’s homes. a few authors that caught me eye: michael eisner, gil garcetti, larry gelbart, thomas keller, and stan lee. each of the dinners has a different dress code. here’s the varieties:

• business casual
• cocktail attire
• casual elegant
• relaxed cocktail
• business attire
• rumble seat attire
• informal attire
• california evening casual
• comfortably festive
• casual
• napa casual
• black tie (this is for stan lee!)
• coat and tie
• festive attire
• dressy casual
• sports attire
• jeans and jewels

i want to host one of these just so i can specify “pants optional.”

oh, and my regrowth charity t-shirt arrived, too.

tonight there is a discussion with william mcdonough about “the ‘cradle to cradle’ design protocol” at the central library, a party to celebrate lavoice.org’s 1000th post at cole’s, and it’s the monthly downtown art walk.

right now, i’ll count myself lucky if i make it to the talk at the library instead of being knocked out by allergy medication again.

during lunch today, i managed to remember to head over to the central library to return some books and take some pictures of the farmers’ market.

all i bought was a bag of roasted peanuts (so tasty). next week i’ll have to bring a bag and load up on produce. it all looked awesome.

shannon pointed out that i see hawks in l.a. are playing another free show tonight at cole’s. i don’t think i can not go. the believers will also be playing — judging from the samples on their site, that should be a very good thing.

mickey champion performs every tuesday night at little pedro’s, the oldest bar in los angeles, located over in the arts district. i really need to go over there some day and catch her show. it includes free fried chicken and cornbread at 11pm.

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dedication to your job is standing outside in a costume like this when it is over 90ºF outside. so is this.

these were both from the chinese food festival, where i took very few pictures. dave took more — i’m sure he’ll upload a few eventually. maybe even one of those elusive breed of pictures with me in it.

a sure sign that summer is winding down is that a new princess kay of the milky way has been chosen, and her likeness carved in butter.

slanty eyed mama was the happy surprise from last night’s grand performances. very funny, and great electric violin playing. marc bamuthi joseph was also excellent.

i see hawks in la were also great, as promised. and now i’ve actually seen and experienced the bar half of cole’s.

and then celia and shannon talked about various things and then worried that i would write about it. lucky for them, all i really remember is that boys are stupid.

and it is possible to be a bartender and not know how to make a long island iced tea. neither do i apparently, because i didn’t think tequila was a usual ingredient.

it’s a good thing i checked the library website for the time of their tours — i had gotten myself confused, and thought their saturday tour was at 12:30pm. turns out that’s when the weekday tour is, and there’s actually two saturday tours at 11am and 2pm (and one on sunday at 2pm).

what i was originally looking into was whether tomorrow was one of the days they have the used book sale out in the courtyard, and it is indeed. that’s from 10am to noon.

the chinese food festival los angeles takes place august 27-28 in chinatown (where else?). sounds yummy.

last night before heading up to hotel cafe, i went to the rock ‘n’ rights: rockin’ for the mentally disabled concert in little tokyo and took some pictures. it was organized by a group of students, and was to benefit lamp community, which provides services to the mentally-ill (formerly) homeless in several locations downtown.

the alumni organization from hmc is doing a group tour of the king tut artifacts currently on display at lacma on september 10. it sounds kind of interesting, but i’m not sure if it’s $35 interesting. (they’ve included the self-guided audio tour in the package.)

there will be a screening of repo man in downtown los angeles at a parking lot near third street and santa fe avenue, on august 27 at 8:15pm. it’s the capper for a road-rally that will be occuring the same day. tickets for the movie are $14 in advance, $18 at the door.

there will even be space to watch the movie drive-in style. and a bunch of cast and crew will be participating in a q&a after the screening.

“the life of a repo man is always intense.”

cole’s pacific electric buffet is putting on a blood drive on august 26th, inspired by cole’s regular, and downtown resident, laura.

no, i won’t be using this as an opportunity to run a harvey mudd triathlon.

re-animator is playing at the egyptian theatre tonight at 7pm, followed by a q&a with the director.

terra naomi will be playing at the hotel cafe next thursday night at 10pm. she’s been getting a lot of attention on myspace, and is about to kick off a nationwide tour. i just got her latest ep, recorded with a full band, and it’s great stuff. “the vicodin song” is killer.

matt haughey’s prediction that she’ll be a household name in february 2006 may end up being a little aggressive, but he also may not end up being too far off.

so it looks like next thursday will be the last time to catch her in los angeles until november at least.

the los angeles conservancy is celebrating the 25th anniversary of their walking tour program with free forty-minute walking tours and live music in pershing square this weekend, from 4 to 6:30pm.

the postcard they sent to announce the event was a real knife-twister: pershing square looking like a park, the pacific mutal building without the (inferior) art deco facade, and a red line trolley passing by on hill street.

now all i have to do is not forget to go. i’m developing a bad track record in forgetting events even after writing about them. i completely forget the zócalo event last night at california plaza, and forgot about today’s farmers’ market outside the central library until just a few minutes ago.

last night i saw george sarah and friends, part of the grand performances at california plaza. the music was okay, but i don’t think it was well-suited for live performance — it had a little too much of that “press play on the synthesizer” feel. i only stuck around for the first half, of which the highlight was monique powell, of save ferris, singing a couple of songs.

next tuesday at 7pm, zócalo will be having one of their events at the california plaza, a discussion with robert j. dowling, editor-in-chief and publisher of the hollywood reporter, and joel stein, columnist for the los angeles times. it could be interesting, since i think stein runs in second place to editorial cartoonist michael ramirez as the person people would most like to see gone from the op-ed pages of the la times. but ramirez has a pulitzer to hold his critics at bay, so i think stein is more likely to be the first to disappear.

the la tofu festival 2005 is coming up — august 13-14 in little tokyo. until august 10, you can get a festival package that includes two admission tickets, two raffle tickets, fifteen food tickets, and a festival cookbook, all for $30.

next tuesday is “is california governable? a conversation with gray davis, pete wilson, george deukmejian, and jerry brown” at the dorothy chandler pavilion, the latest zócalo event.

i got an email inviting me to the “private vip reception” after the event. i don’t know if that’s anything special, or just the usual post-event reception that zócalo does. if it is special, someone has made a grave mistake: a vip reception is hardly some place for someone whose fashion choices don’t rise above which t-shirt to wear and just barely scrapes by with the social skills to order lunch.

(here’s a brilliant shirt: “what would macgyver do?”)

tomorrow, ana marie cox, editor of wonkette, will be the featured guest for the zócalo lecture series at the central library, with mickey kaus of kausfiles moderating. i’ll be the one who looks like he wishes there weren’t so many other people there.

the ringling bros. and barnum & bailey circus will be at the staples center in downtown los angeles from july 20 to 24, 2005.

on july 19, starting at 9:30am, there will be a circus parade from the train yards to staples center — it starts at 25th and alameda, up to washington blvd., then over to maple ave., and finally up 11th st.

there’s two upcoming events that are part of the american theatre organ society conference and are open to the public. the first is “5×2: the opening night concert” at the pasadena civic auditorium and the other is a screening of wings with bob mitchell at the mighty wurlitzer pipe organ at the orpheum. tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 for both events. the concert is on friday, july 1, and the film is on saturday, july 2.

tomorrow (saturday) at 10:30am is the annual meeting of the los angeles conservancy at the cineramadome at arclight hollywood, and it will include a slide presentation about looking at los angeles, a collection of photographs of los angeles. it’s open to the public, not just conservancy members.

upcoming.org got some love from its creator, so now you can add private events, among a bunch of other new features. i added a bunch of upcoming events at the los angeles central library.

i had been thinking of building a little event widget for myself, but now i don’t think i’ll need to. at some point i’ll work some magic so my upcoming events show up here, along with my del.icio.us entries.