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Arts/Culture

Bassist Russell Walters

By Monk Turner — Tuesday — 2 Comments

Russell Walters Monk Turner

|Photo Gallery| If Stevie Wonder had a 'brother from another mother' living in Downtown L.A., it would be Russell Walters. Even though Russell is a white guy from the backwoods of Michigan with 20/20 vision, soul music drips from his fingers when he gets on the bass. Stevie Wonder's influence runs deep within this four string warrior; he even has the tattoo to prove it.

I met up with Russell to see what groups he has been playing with and get a sense of what life is like across from L.A. Live. — Continued Inside...


Art Walk Wrap, March, 2010

By Ed Fuentes — March 15, 2010

Art Walk Wrap, March, 2010

|Photo Gallery| The March Art Walk continued the trend of a bifurcated event, with the party crowd showing up even later in the evening. That made it easier to look at galleries and art early, before the younger crowd shows up for the mixed-use spaces armed with DJs and retail.


Grammy Museum Opens Comedian Series with Bob Newhart

By Ed Fuentes — March 10, 2010

Grammy Museum Opens Comedian Series with Bob Newhart

|Photo Gallery| Displaying his trademark stammer -- more comedian's timing device than personal quirk -- Bob Newhart played the Grammy Museum Sound Stage on Tuesday evening, partly to honor his 50th Anniversary as a performer, but mostly to just have a few laughs. It would be close to impossible to find a better choice for the first comedian to be interviewed in the museum...


Art Walk Preview: March, 2010

By Ed Fuentes — March 10, 2010 — 3 Comments

IMGP5003 Ed Fuentes

The March Downtown Art Walk -- make that Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, as the ever-changing website boldly notes -- returns to the streets of the Historic Core this Thursday.

For those making their first visit, the Artwalk Lounge at 5th and Main may be a good first stop. Others will feel free to pick their favorite gallery and start from there. — Continued Inside...


Fiesta Broadway Moves North

By Ed Fuentes — March 09, 2010 — 14 Comments

IMGP1209 Ed Fuentes

While the 21st Fiesta Broadway may still pull in 500,000 “Latino customers” to the streets of Downtown, the 2010 event will have a far different footprint than it has in years past.

A short move to the north will concentrate the April 25 event on the northern blocks of the Broadway corridor and the Civic Center, limiting its southern reach to 4th street but expanding it to Spring and Main around City Hall and the new LAPD headquarters. — Continued Inside...


'Dreamgirls' Powers Into Downtown

By Ed Fuentes — March 03, 2010 — 1 Comment

Dreamgirls Joan Marcus / Center Theatre Group

"Dreamgirls," the 1981 musical about those who controlled the soul charts of the 1960s with payola and charm, clearly has staying power.

The play first debuted only months after MTV was launched, but at a media conference last week the young cast members proudly said that YouTube was their research tool of choice while looking to channel the performances of 60s soul singers.

Even in the digital age, though, the show delivers. Unlike the scoundrels that dare to displace the lead diva, the performance running through April 4 at the Ahmanson Theatre keeps its promise to bring excitement to the stage. — Continued Inside...


Musician Monk Turner

By Ed Fuentes — March 02, 2010 — 1 Comment

monk_ Ed Fuentes

Every two weeks, Monk Turner interviews someone who is making music in the heart of the city. Today, we turn the tables on Monk and ask him about his own new album, Coordinates, which was released online this week.

For Turner, Downtown is the muse that brings forth an affectionate and personal soundtrack for what he considers the cultural crossroads of the city. At the center of his latest release is First and Central, the Little Tokyo corner that he sees change mood during the day, using Asian scales shared by the blues to reflect both cultures. — Continued Inside...


Spring Street Mural To Be Down and Out

By Ed Fuentes — February 25, 2010 — 65 Comments

Down N Out Mural Ed Fuentes

Artist Emmeric Konrad is dismayed that the City has ordered his current window mural at the Down and Out bar to be removed.

Konrad, a 1992 Graduate of Otis Parsons School of Fine Arts, has been Downtown-based artist for over a decade and known for frantic male and female forms with crazed eyes and tight skirts––satirical grit made from caricatures of strangers.

"I thought I was capturing the real people of Downtown L.A.," says Konrad. "I don't understand why the controversy, [I was] just making art." — Continued Inside...


Tonight: Grand Avenue to Act as Venue for 222-Wheeled Musical Performance

By Eric Richardson — February 22, 2010 — 3 Comments

Route for 'Eine Brise'

Downtown is no stranger to musical performances both experimental and mainstream, but the sights and sounds of 111 bicycles pedaling up Grand Avenue will perform Mauricio Kagel's "Eine Brise" may set a new bar for uniqueness.

The wheeled performance is the intermission to Monday Evening Concerts' evening celebrating the composer, who passed away in 2008. The outdoor performance is free, while tickets for the show itself are $27. — Continued Inside...


Producer Mark Byers

By Monk Turner — February 16, 2010

Mark Byers Monk Turner

Frank Zappa has an album called "Does Humor Belong in Music?" I've often pondered this question as humorous music rarely makes it to mainstream radio.

I can say that after hearing some of the comedy projects that Downtown resident Mark Byer has worked on, the answer is a resounding yes. The Berklee School of Music alumn made the Arts District his home about a year ago and has since been creating music with comedians Michael Serrato and Paul Downs. — Continued Inside...