| Tuesday, June 23, 2009 |
With an all female Icelandic 10-piece brass section, a church organist and Sonic Youth’s Chris Corsano in tow, Bjork’s latest album “Voltaic” and accompanying tour film will hit the streets on June 23rd worldwide. Making its L.A. debut at the bizarre product placement “Nike Theatre,” the multi-media documentary, “Voltaic: The Volta Tour” compiles footage from the visually fetching Paris and Reykjavik shows.
WHEN: Reception 7:00pm, Screening 8:00pm
ADMISSION: Free, reservations suggested: flux.net/cinema-tuesdays-voltaic-los-angeles
WHERE: Nike Montalban Theater
ADDRESS: 1615 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028
WEBSITE: flux.net/cinema-tuesdays-voltaic-los-angeles
Straight from his controversial Lagos nightclub, Nigerian Afro-beat superstar Femi Kuti will perform his politically charged jazz and funk sounds for picnicking Angelinos at the Hollywood Bowl. The oldest son of Fela Kuti, Nigeria’s Public Enemy No. 1, Femi keeps the high energy radical flames alive…“Afrobeat emanating from the Kuti family is above all else a music of combat.” On a less charged but equally hot note, Santigold will be opening the show with her sensual 80s/New Wave/James Brown-inspired songs.
Praise be the day when I cross paths with the Coolhaus ice cream truck and have to choose a “Prefab Flavor” - Frank Behry, Mintimalism, Mies Vanilla Rohe, Richard Meyer Lemon or Neutrapolitan to name a few. Architect owned and imagined, the Coolhaus truck will be roaming the streets of L.A. this summer and will hopefully use its Twitter account Koji BBQ-style to let us know where to find it.
Take yourself off the grid of downtown L.A. and interact with it as a new terrain. Join the “collective situationist ludic engagement,” organized by UCLA’s research lab REMAP, for a walking exploration of our nuanced urban geography. Participants will be provided with mobile technology that maps out alternative ways to experience and play in downtown. Rooted in the situationist ideas of Guy Debord, the REMAP “engagement” encourages us to reconsider our place in our surroundings, to let go and mindfully drift.
With the sidewalk as their canvas, 600 local artists using 25,000 sticks of pastel chalk will turn out large-scale works of art at this year’s Pasadena Chalk Festival. In a gesture that reminds us how fleeting our creations are, all the work will be hosed down at the end of the two-day event. The high dosage of creative juices and welcoming of artists from all walks of life makes this festival one of the most exciting examples of interweaving community with the arts. 
Fallen Fruit, the artist collective known for teaching Angelinos how to enjoy fruit grown in public spaces, debuts its first solo exhibition, “United Fruit.” Juxtaposing the seductive pop imagery of the banana with the corrupt South American banana corporations, Fallen Fruit unearths the complexities of this ubiquitous fruit with a series of photographs and video installations. The opening reception, complete with bananas for eating and playing around with, will feature a participatory performance “Are You Happy to See Me?” Exploring the social significance of the world’s most popular fruit could not be tastier.
Creating international headlines when it bloomed in 1999, the gigantic Amorphophallus titanum, aka the “Corpse Flower,” has propagated and its 5 feet high offspring is estimated to bloom between June 12-16. With only 50 recorded flowerings in the United States, the Sumatran rain forest native is both a rare treat and a test of ones olfactory sense. Beyond its stunning velvety maroon interior, the Corpse Flower is notorious for emitting an exceptionally foul odor. Currently growing several inches a day at the Huntington, the “son of Stinky,” poses a curious quest to be both repulsed and impressed.
After a five month adventure that took me into the heart of DC’s inaugural madness, reacquainted me with dear friends throughout the U.S. and introduced me to the charming footpaths of the Cotswolds, I am back home in the City of Angels.
