Now that I have been taking a closer look at the different nuances between graff and tagging, this clip is funnier to me. A cholo writes his tag small because the sidewalk has "good foot traffic," baffling creative director / gang leader. "The size forces the observer to get more involved with the graffiti," says the artistic vato.
You can spot a Los Angeles river bridge in the background and window reflection -- qualifying it as a Downtown Vid Pick. Frankly, the sketch is so well done, it would have made it anyway. Hat/Tip to Jay Lopez for reminding me of Mad T.V.'s take on ESL taggers (That's East Side Locos, not English as Second Language.)
Nancy Bea Hefley playing "It's a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame" on the Dodger Stadium organ. The song was written in 1960 by Harry Simeone. Some fans may remember it as the opening music for Dodger radio broadcasts.
Today is the home opener for the Los Angeles Dodgers 2012 season and the first pitch will be thrown by Peter O’ Malley to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dodger Stadium. The symbolic pitch comes after a tumultuous year that ended with new ownership led by figurehead Magic Johnson.
There is another special Dodger Stadium Field of Dream-like constant; Nancy Bea Hefley will be at the organ wafting poetic sounds over the stadium. She, along with Hall of Fame broadcasters Vin Scully and Jaime Jarrin, will be honored this afternoon. (The Beach Boys, also celebrating a 50th anniversary, will sing the national anthem).
For purists, it's not the same when the sound of an organ is set aside when a playes strolls to the batter’s box with at-bat walkup music playing canned rock, hip-hop and mambo. Moments when "Master of the House" from "Les Miserables" were heard when Orel Hershiser appeared on the field are replaced by a sample of "All The Right Moves" by OneRepublic for Clayton Kershaw (today's home opener pitcher).
Besides that potential Cy Young mix, other brief bars of recorded music are "Plomo Plomo" by El Negro 5 Estrellas for Juann Uribe; "Spend It" by 2 Chainz for center-fielder Matt Kemp; and "I Wanna Rock (Remix)" by Snoop Dogg/Jay-Z for Kenley Jansen.
But before players became playez, music came from keys and pedals.
'Never Will Be Mine' (2011) Rye Rye with Robyn / Directed by Tim Nackashi
On the day that has a street fair in Joel Bloom Square, an appropriate Downtown Vid Pick is the recently released video for Rye Rye's hip-hop single “Never Will Be Mine." She and guest, Swedish pop star Robyn, take full advantage of the current street art around Traction, East 3rd, and Hewitt.
Finding room to dance at Grand Performances / VFaL
Grand Performances, the summer concert series that reconnects Los Angeles to its own homegrown culture, and made downtown a stage for World Music, will open its 25th season this weekend with a one-man play, a work-in-progress, and spoken word from East Los Angeles.
On Friday, Cultural Affairs Artists Project offers Ian Ruskin portraying Thomas Pain in a one-man play, "To Begin the World Over Again." Also that evening is a multi-media dance piece-in-progress by Sheetal Gandhi based on "The Giving Tree," a children's book by Shel Silverstein (June 17, 8:30 pm).
Saturday has the first installment of Boyle Heights Project, a series that speaks of the neighborhood's multiethnic fabric through poetry, short fiction, essays, and music (June 18, 8pm).
Sunday brings librettist Terry Wolverton and composer David Ornette Cherry to Watercourt for a concert reading of "Embers," a jazz opera with some part world music and other part hip hop. Michael John Garces directs (June 19, 8pm).
The mix of local and world artists performing in the corporate highlands of California Plaza can be found by date in the Grand Performances brochure (PDF). You can even select which performer to see under themes like Global Block Party, Las Artes en la Ciudad. Boyle Heights The Other L.A.; Woman in the Mix; Celebrating All Things Jewish From Goy to Oy; and City of Angels City of Artists.
And really, where else but at Grand Performances will offer selections like Charles Phoenix guiding you through L.A. with a special show, punk Exene team up with folk Phranc, Yemen Blues, or the athletlic narrative of modern dance company, Diavolo?
While 27 acts are scheduled, you may still want to follow Grand Performances on twitter. They have been known to book a special guest or two during the season. Also, GP veterans recommend that you pack a picnic and enjoy the outdoors before the show to make sure you get good seating, and to take a sweater.
After the video and jump, a look at the season by theme.
Grand Performances I FREE I Opens June 17 I California Plaza I 350 S. Grand I Downtown Los Angeles
Mariachi Mystery Tour will performs with Mariachi Rock-O Fri., Aug 12, at 8pm.
Tijuana Taxi (1966) Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass
During the 60s, musical performances were delivered to the cocktail lounge culture through Scopitones, where for a quarter you can watch Go-Go dancers shimmy with watered down Bob Fosse moves in saturated colors on a 26-inch monitor
Like jazz Soundies of the 40s and 50s, Scopitones were the predecessor to the music video and were optimistic their 16mm musical clips, first called "musies," would catch on in the finer lounges around the U.S. after being all the rage in Europe. However, they followed the same fate as Soundies –– and nightclubs in general–– unable to compete with television.
While Soundies left behind an archive of jazz and blues (some not so PC by today's standards), Scopitones gave us an obscure library of camp. For better or worse, Downtown Los Angeles has its place in this short-lived form of music distribution, as seen in this clip of "Tijuana Taxi" filmed at Olvera Street in 1966.
There is no doubt the video makes Olvera Street look like a complete hi-fi tourist trap, but you gotta dig that retro opening title card.
NOTE: I took out the embedded video since it just played straight to a commercial. Here is the link to [video ]
If you followed Shaquille O'Neal during his time with the Lakers, it is no surprise he was happy to dress in black tie and tails to handle guest conducting chores of a major orchestra. The man plays loose. (It is still strange, however, to see him in Celtic Green.)
Last night, the Big-Whatever-He-Wants-To-Be was introduced as Maestro Shamrock by Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart. By all accounts, the audience, orchestra, and choir had as much fun as Shaq.
After he takes his place on the podium, he flips his tails twice for a laugh. On the second flip, you will see the Boston Pops strings follow to the baton and lower their instruments, then quickly get into position again as Shaq fastbreaks into "Sleigh Ride."
At one point, Shaq doesn’t just wave thanks to the choir, but offers a free throw hand gesture. The robed choir does it right back.
The program moves on to the Micheal Jackson arrangement of the Jackson 5 hit "Can You Feel It" before Shaq introduces the last number: “This next song is a song I hope we all be singin' June 27, when the NBA season is over."
Boston Pops and their 7ft-1 conductor close the night with Queen's "We Are The Champions."
Tom Waits is the smoke and beer soaked voice songwriter/singer who has graveled lyrics about Downtown’s seedy bars and hotels, both as an observer and resident. He will pull up a broken bar stool alongside Neil Diamond, the Alice Cooper Band, Dr. John and Darlene Love as a 2011 inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
“On The Nickel” is his love letter to Downtown’s Skid Row and there are quite a few videos to choose from. This version was selected because it opens with a few bars of Waltzing Matilda, the unofficial anthem of Australia that is really about a wandering man who carries his worldly possessions on his back.
Then Waits introduces the song: "It's about downtown Los Angeles on 5th Street and, where all the winos uh, affectionately refer to it as The Nickel. So, this is kinda a hobo's lullaby."
After the jump, bonus video of Waits reading Charles Bukowski.
The Beastle Boys Sabotage (1994) Directed by Spike Jonze
This Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze parody of 70s-80s undercover cop and spy dramas holds up well, even after being imitated by ad agencies kidnapping cients into retro-land.
"Sabotage" was off the survey radar since Downtown and L.A.'s bridges have less screen time. Now after rewatching the sincere pat-on-the-back of those same 70s and early 80s action scenes in "Stay The Night," it is even funnier.
It also makes an important point. If your action flick doesn't have a foot or car chase near or on one of L.A.'s viaducts near the Arts District, you did not finish the job. That is like leaving the window shade shadows out of a film-noir; Hitchcock not making a cameo in one of his films; walking around the car rather then jumping over the hood. You are missing style points, my friend. You may as well fling yourself off the First Street Bridge.
While gathering my archive of links to music videos that use Downtown as a location, I saw I missed Madonna's "Borderline" using the Arts District as a barrio back in 1984.
It reintroduces our informal survey quite nicely.
Locals will instantly spot the 4th Street Bridge at Santa Fe before the story switches back and forth from the loft of a photographer to a pool hall on 6th. (As always, extra points for anything shot in the Arts District).
The break dancers do seem to be lifted out of New York and not neighboring Boyle Heights. Still, it is interesting to see the Arts District used at the dawn of music video history, before it was called the Arts District.
