Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column (which in fact is not in defense but rather a critique of) begins: Let me say up front that I am not one of these people who feels oppressed, discriminated against and marginalized by the mere fact and station of another’s existence. That you’re a man and […]
ANGELUS NEWS
THE STORRIER STEARNS JAPANESE GARDEN
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Located at 270 Arlington Drive in Pasadena and comprising two acres, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is a hidden LA treasure. The pond-style stroll garden was created in the 1930s by Japanese immigrant Kinzuchi Fuji for his patrons Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns. After their deaths, […]
ALEXANDER GIRARD AT THE PALM SPRINGS MUSEUM
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Through March 1, the Palm Springs Museum is featuring “A Designer’s Universe,” an exhibit based on the multi-talented twentieth-century artist Alexander Girard (1907-1993). As the Museum points out: “Alexander Girard (1907–1993 in Santa Fe) was one of the most important and prolific designers of the 20th century. He […]
ST. ANDREW’S ABBEY
ST. ANDREW’S ABBEY IS A BENEDICTINE MONASTERY IN THE HIGH DESERT OUTSIDE OF LA. I HOPE TO BE BURIED THERE.
“OUTSIDER” ARTIST JAMES CASTLE
DEAF SINCE BIRTH, IDAHO ARTIST JAMES CASTLE LEFT AN ASTONISHING, 70-YEAR OUTPUT OF DRAWING, ASSEMBLAGES AND TEXT PIECES.
SUNDAYS LIVE AT ST. JAMES
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: For years during the 1990s when I lived in Koreatown, I’d attend the Sunday afternoon Bing Theater classical music concerts at LACMA. After almost a quarter of a century, the concerts have now moved a couple of miles east, to St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire […]
HUMMINGBIRD IN UNDERWORLD, A MEMOIR
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: Deborah Tobola is known as a visionary pioneer in the field of arts in U.S. corrections. She is a graduate of the University of Montana, and has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. Her prose and poetry have won […]
IN THIS PLACE CHRIST WANTS TO BE BORN
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: “Now he comes to be born in the narrowness of our lives, to be incarnate in us, to give his love to the world through us, through our flesh and blood. That is one meaning of the Incarnation. The reason why we are where we are this Christmas, […]
PERSHIING SQUARE ICE RINK EXTRAVAGANZA
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: The Bai Holiday Ice Rink Pershing Square has returned for its 22nd anniversary season. I know because I attended the grand opening, which took place from 11 to noon on Thursday, Nov. 14. From top to bottom, the event, atmosphere, and zeitgeist were quintessential LA. The […]
A GLASS PANEL HOMAGE TO LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: Artist Anne-Elizabeth Sobieski’s family lost their Pasadena home to fire when she was 17. “I was frozen. I don’t know how much time went by. We just watched as the roof fell in, and one by one, every room burned.” Ever since, she’s had a special […]
THE SRIRACHA SAUCE EMPIRE
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Sriracha sauce is a crown jewel of Southern California foodie culture. You’ve seen the plastic bottles. They’re filled with bright red sauce, emblazoned with a rooster, stamped with text in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese, and topped by a green squirt cap. For many, this blazing […]
MAKING WAVES: THE ART OF CINEMATIC SOUND
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Midge Costin’s documentary, “Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound,” is a fascinating and instructive peek into a world hitherto unknown to most of us. The film traces the history of sound in film, examines the ways directors and sound designers work together, and features the latest discoveries […]
GORDON PARKS: THE FLÁVIO STORY AT THE GETTY
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Through Nov. 10 at the Getty is a compelling exhibit based on the work of Gordon Parks, a Renaissance-man film director, writer, and photojournalist perhaps best known for his work for LIFE magazine. President John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress,” launched in 1961, was an initiative designed […]
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AUGUST WILSON’S “GEM OF THE OCEAN”
This week’s arts and culture column begins: Here’s how Pasadena’s A Noise Within Theater pitches its latest production: Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson unfolds the African American legacy in the first chronological episode of his celebrated “American Century Cycle,” a soaring, mystical tale of a man desperate for redemption in 1904 Pittsburgh. Aunt Ester, a […]