Weekend warriors who tough it out on the steps of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook know all too well the natural beauty and landscape that surrounds the property located 500 feet above Jefferson Boulevard in Culver City. The park offers spectacular views of downtown Los Angeles, Century City and even Catalina Island on a clear day. When the state park opened in April of 2009, residents and citizens of the area could not have imagined the damage and devastation that took place 46 years earlier, when the Baldwin Hills Dam broke near this same location, leaving five people dead and destroying 65 homes in its wake.
In what was to become a scene that has become all too familiar in recent times, the Baldwin Hills Reservoir disaster became the first tragedy in American history to have aerial images of the event broadcast live on television, courtesy of KTLA TV in Los Angeles. Residents on the Westside, who now enjoy the natural wonderment and scenic beauty of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, might be unaware that this area was the scene of such tragedy and devastation nearly 50 years ago.
Westside residents will be able to enjoy a concert in this beautiful setting thanks to the folks at the city of Culver City Performing Arts Program, along with an arts organization called SASSAS (the Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound), whose goal is to promote experimental music through new collaborations and improvisation, combined with unconventional performance environments. This free concert, which takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, will definitely go towards achieving those goals.
Performing on the bill will be the talented and veteran guitarist Nels Cline, who currently plays lead for Wilco, along with Lady Noise and William Roper. The works that will be performed will be new SASSAS commissions, which will be played by more than 30 Los Angeles-area musicians arrayed in different locations across the historic topography of the overlook. SASSAS invited each composer to make a field recording at the overlook and respond to it with a new work focusing on percussion (Cline), electronics (Lady Noise) and lip reeds (Roper). More information on the concert can be found at sassas.org/.
With the recent closing of restaurant and jazz club Charlie O’s in Van Nuys, the landscape of live jazz venues in Los Angeles has been getting increasingly smaller. However, with innovative impresarios like Ruth Price of the Jazz Bakery, Merle Kreibich of the Culver Club for Jazz and Rocco Sommazi with the Angel City Jazz Festival, there is still quite a bit of America’s only indigenous art form to be heard in the City of Angels. One club owner who has been at it for a quarter of a century in Hollywood is Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalina Jazz club.
First located in the now-trendy Cahuenga corridor in Hollywood, steps from the now long-gone and historic Shelly’s Manne hole jazz club, Catalina’s in now located on Sunset Boulevard, just east of Highland Avenue. On Monday, Oct. 17, Catalina’s will be celebrating 25 years on the jazz scene with a who’s who lineup of Los Angeles jazz stalwarts.
Hosted by KJAZZ radio host Bubba Jackson and KABC radio personality Doug McIntyre (producer of a well-received documentary on the life of L.A. jazz great, Jack Sheldon), the lineup will feature a tribute to Sheldon and will include performances by Alex Acuna, David Benoit, Culver City resident George Kahn, The Yellowjackets, Bobby Rodriguez, Lee Rittenour, Tierney Sutton, Marcus Miller and many more. The music director for the program will be pianist and composer, John Beasley.
This unforgettable night of jazz will celebrate this premier jazz club, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the California Jazz Foundation, which helps jazz musicians in need. A minimum donation of $25 is being asked, which will also entitle patrons to a silent auction and raffle. Reservations are required and more information can be found at catalinajazzclub.com.
With Halloween approaching, L.A. hipsters are looking at the calendar and putting together their dates for the numerous parties and musical events taking place in the coming weeks. One such event is called the “Dead Man’s Ball,” taking place on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard. With late night access to the museum’s director Tim Burton exhibition, the ghoulish night will feature two stages, with performances by Killsonic, Jeremiah Red and Sneaky Nietzche and environments created by Syper Art Studios.
While enjoying the music, you can also check out the major retrospective exploring the full range of Burton’s creative work, both as a film director and as an artist, illustrator, photographer and writer. The Burbank-born director studied at CalArts and worked as an animator at the Walt Disney Studios before breaking out on his own. Tickets are $75 for Muse members ($100 general admission) and tickets includes two free drinks and parking.
Muse is LACMA’s premier membership for art enthusiasts in their 20s, 30s and 40s, offering everything from private exhibition tours to penthouse parties. Those in their 50s who still think they’re hip perhaps can show their honorary AARP cards for a slight discount. So start putting together those Charlie Sheen and Amanda Knox costumes for these scary affairs coming up throughout Halloween 2011.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame, performing rights organization ASCAP and the Grammy Museum is presenting Legends-in-the-Round on Thursday night, Oct. 20, at the museum’s Clive Davis Theater. Before an intimate audience of 200, you’ll be able to hear a gathering of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees discussing their careers and performing their songs including: Jeff Barry (“Chapel Of Love,” “I Honestly Love You,” “Be My Baby”), Charles Fox (“Killing Me Softly,” “Happy Days,” “Ready To Take A Chance Again”), Albert Hammond (“It Never Rains In California,” “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”) and Bill Withers (“Lean On Me,”
“Ain’t no Sunshine,” “Just the Two of Us”). Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman and inductee Jimmy Webb will kick off the evening with welcoming remarks. Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is $20. More information on the show can be found at grammymuseum.org.
Jonathan Weiss is a Los Angeles-based music supervisor for film, TV and advertising. Email him at jonjaz@aol.com.
