By Charly SHELTON Warner Bros. Studios has been around since the heyday of silent movies. It was founded in 1923 and has been the distributor of many of the films now referred to as “the classics:” “Casablanca” from 1942, “Gone with the Wind” from 1939, “The Maltese Falcon” from 1941, “The Jazz Singer” from 1927 […]
BY STEVE ZALL AND SID FISH April 2018 Here are some of the shows you can see in our local theatres this month: OPENING “Medea” Medea is a wife, a mother, and an immigrant. When her husband abandons his family for a new life, she exacts an appalling revenge and destroys […]
By Charly SHELTON Descanso Gardens is our own Central Park in the Crescenta Valley. It’s a meeting place, a quiet retreat, a tourist attraction and, now, a brunch hot spot. Whether it’s after a morning stroll through the gardens or before heading out, Maple at Descanso Gardens offers an expansive brunch that hits the spot, […]
The 34th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards Gala celebrates the winners of the writers and illustrators of the Future Contests that honor 12 writers and 12 illustrators from around the world in the genres of science fiction and fantasy on the theme of “Magic and Wizardry.” The event, with celebrity award presenters, will be […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE Considering the epochal nature of World War II and how its aftermath has essentially bequeathed to us our world of today, the disappearance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sixth Symphony” from concert programs and recordings, at least in the United States, is a scandalous omission in our collective cultural memory. “[To] anyone who […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE The title of last Saturday night’s Salastina Society program was a tellingly double-edged one. Called “Second Class Citizens,” the program’s name resonated as much for composers marginalized from the grand narrative of musical history as for the present-day concern for those peoples who live and work in the midst of our society, […]
By Charly SHELTON “Come for my soul, you wardens of the sky! May it see my corpse, may it rest on my mummy, which will never be destroyed or perish.” ~ Spell 89, Egyptian Book of the Dead The Egyptians were great believers in the afterlife. Those who could afford it were buried in ornate […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE It could be argued that Beethoven’s art exploded like a dazzling supernova in the musical firmament, his art spreading disparate elements far and wide that eventually would coalesce into various independent and clashing galaxies. The nebula in which the music of Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 – 1988) inhabits is a solitary and forbidding […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE In 1948, English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was riding high upon the crest of international fame. His “Sixth Symphony” had been premiered by Sir Adrian Boult that April and the work immediately seized the public’s imagination on both sides of the Atlantic, garnering over a hundred performances in the following year – […]
By Charly SHELTON Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day and that meant food, drink and music, all of which were found in abundance at Tam O’Shanter on Los Feliz. As one of LA’s oldest restaurants, the Scottish pub set in an English Tudor-style cottage is steeped in history, and one can feel the age as soon […]